Editorial

Too many horses, too few stables

By Curtis Kalleward GVL Columnist
2/3/2010

Nothing in this world is perfect, so it seems. Everything must have its classic denouement, its tragic downfall.

A diet of chocolate crîme-filled doughnuts and beer makes us doughy around the love handles.

And having classes start every day at 1 p.m. actually can come back to bite me in the butt.

I'm not one to enjoy hearing myself complain, but I can't keep my mouth shut any longer. Early-afternoon parking on the Allendale Campus sucks.

My fellow commuters and I spend a daily average of 20 minutes in futile attempts at locating a safe haven for our cars to sit while we study.

And don't pretend as if you don't know what I'm talking about. Losing Promise Grant scholarship money, trying to pay bills and cramming for exams -- it's easy to understand how this seemingly trivial issue gets thrown to the side, similar to the laundry you've also neglected.

I've considered filing a new student organization for us. We could wear members-only club jackets and beanies and meet at 12:30 every afternoon as we loiter in the parking lots.

Maybe you've seen us as you've walked back to my favorite headache-inducer, Parking Lot C, which is between the Fieldhouse Arena and the Ravines Living Center. We're the people who lurk behind you as you gander between the rows of cars.

Come to think of it, I'll throw a shark on our club logo. It'd be only fitting.

I've gotten so desperate that I've even sat across the street from Mackinac at 12:50 p.m., just as classes were being released, and offered rides to unsuspecting students. I see this as doing my peers a great service by helping them avoid the blustery winter drafts. Of course, as far as they're concerned, I'm probably on a watch list or two.

The parking problem inevitably arose after Mackinac Hall was transformed into a mega-structure. Constructing dozens of classrooms meant dozens of additional classes, which in turn meant even more students who traffic that area each day.

Yet, when the parking areas didn't expand, it essentially was the same as trying to fit the entire football team into one room at the Allendale Sleep Inn. It's just not going to work.

You might think this problem is easily avoidable. Show up an hour before your class begins and stay on campus to study like a good little college boy or girl, you say.

Ah, but I have tried that - and unsuccessfully, I might add.

Now, I fully understand that paving paradise to put up a parking lot isn't the most environmentally-friendly idea. One of the major selling points for coming to Grand Valley State University, not only for myself but for thousands of other students here, was the campus' natural beauty and landscaping. However, most of the parking areas already in place have been creatively blended into the scene, outlined with gently rolling hills and large trees. A little more black to go with the green couldn't hurt.

With as much building expansion that campus is currently undergoing, I plead that parking grow as well.

ckalleward@lanthorn.com

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