Sean Davidson
Reporter
Sophomores, juniors, and even seniors make the choice to park in the Waveny Park dirt-lot, despite the long walk to school and a number of reported break-ins. At the beginning of each year at NCHS, many students make an effort to get a parking pass before they become too limited and difficult to obtain. There are only more drivers as a year progresses, but no increase in the availability of parking spaces at NCHS to accommodate them. Students who cannot manage to secure a parking pass, as well as sophomores and juniors who wish to dodge our closed-campus policy, occasionally make the choice to park in the dirt-lot despite a host of noted dangers and inconveniences.
Junior Eli Litchman learned about the dangers of parking in the dirt-lot when his car was broken into this year on the day before December break. “I had just gotten my license the day before and I didn’t have a parking pass.” Eli said. “It was snowing and cold so I didn’t want to walk to school. So, I just parked in the dirt-lot. Halfway through the second or third period of the day I was called down to the office and a policeman started asking me about my car. I didn’t know what it was about at first, but then he brought me out to my car and one of the windows was missing and glass was everywhere. Since then I haven’t parked in the dirt lot.”
Mr. Sullivan, the NCHS parking administrator, is aware of the volume of students who park in the dirt-lot and the dangers of parking there, but does not believe there is much the school could do to regulate parking there or protect the students. “The school doesn’t have any authority over students parking there or not parking there.” Mr. Sullivan said. “It’s off campus technically, even though it adjoins the campus. I do know that juniors and seniors choose to park there because they don’t want to pay for parking here. I think more often than not it is used by sophomores as they’re getting their license, and unfortunately we just don’t have the capacity to be able to give parking to every junior who wants parking let alone sophomores.”
Although not having a parking pass is a popular reason for parking in the dirt-lot, students also use the dirt-lot to go off campus on free periods or lunch. “I have a parking pass.” A junior dirt-lot parker said. “I park in the dirt lot so I can go off on triple lunches. That’s why a lot of people park there. You see juniors and sophomores with coffee or Chicken Joe’s in the middle of the day. How else do you think they’d get off campus?”
Some students use the dirt-lot as a way to dodge closed-campus rules, but an equally large quantity of students park there because they cannot obtain a parking pass. “For seniors and juniors combined, we have roughly 525 total spots that we allocate first to seniors, and then to juniors.” Mr. Sullivan said. “Juniors who want a parking pass don’t necessarily need a sport to get one; students who have jobs can get passes, students who are part of community groups can get one, and there are other situations that could be used as leverage to get a pass. My guess is that there is someone in your life who can vouch for the fact that you need to have access to park a car here.”
A possible solution to getting students to stop parking in the dirt-lot is to expand the parking capacity at NCPS and therefore make passes easier to obtain, but this is an unlikely prospect. “There have been some conversations about expanding parking historically, but a lot of those pre-dated some of the financial issues that arose in 2008-2009, so increasing parking didn’t sit high on the priority list.” Mr. Sullivan said. “Right now, I don’t foresee that changing.”
There is also the possibility that Waveny could become more strict with regulating our parking there. “You could also go to the YMCA or the Waveny Care Center if they stop letting us park here.” A junior dirt-lot parker said. “I’ve seen people park there before, but they’re both far walks and not really much safer.”
Keeping in mind that parking will likely not expand any time soon, parking passes will not become easier to obtain, and closed-campus rules will probably stay the same, students will continue to park in the dirt-lot and should try to make the best of their situation. “We are a very trusting culture sometimes, and I would encourage students who chose to park there to keep their things safe and always lock their car.” Mr. Sullivan said. “I feel badly when those things happen, none of us want to hear something has happened to anybodies car whether it’s on campus or off campus.”
