By Hailey Rogenski
Every weekday morning, I wake up, have coffee, get dressed and drive to Youngstown State University where I fight to find a parking spot.
Recently, the M-60 parking deck was taken down and now there are limited parking spaces. I have to park farther away from where I normally would, making me walk further to get to class. It doesn’t help that I have one class in Debartolo Hall, which is on the opposite side of campus from the M-30 Deck on Wick Avenue. Debartolo Hall is located all the way up by Fifth Avenue.
My backpack is heavy and as someone who suffers from scoliosis, I go home with back pain every day from having to carry it so far.
Scoliosis is a condition where one has irregular curvature of the spine and can be very painful. Carrying heavy weight on my back and shoulders is painful because my shoulders are uneven due to how my spine curves. My left shoulder is higher than my right shoulder. This causes my backpack to put more weight on my left shoulder and the left side of my back.
On top of that, I have to wait forever just to go home. The line of cars to leave the Wick Avenue parking deck in the afternoon is extremely long.
The reason the university tore the parking deck down was for our safety, but the fact it didn’t plan to rebuild the M-60 parking deck means that we are going to have to deal with long lines and limited parking for an extensive amount of time because the university plans to put a parking lot where the deck used to be.
If the school had another deck built, it would be very helpful for all of the students and faculty. Even though it would take longer to build a deck than a lot, it would be worth the wait because if we had a parking deck closer to where we have to walk, we wouldn’t have to walk far and rush to where we are going. The university should build another deck on Fifth Avenue so that we could have a parking deck on both sides of campus.
Even though the tearing down of the M-60 parking deck has made things extremely difficult for us, there is another parking problem that existed long before the deck was torn down: those who snatch two parking spaces instead of one.
I see at least one car in the M-30 parking deck every day that is either taking up two spaces or is over the line, making it so others cannot park beside them.
Parking over or on the line makes it nearly impossible to park near these cars, which causes me to drive even further into the parking deck. If I were parking near these cars, I would end up doing damage to my car in the process.
I understand that some people are in a hurry to get to class, but impatience and lack of attention can make others late to class.
Taking up two parking spots causes others to have to keep searching for somewhere to park. When I finally find a parking spot, I have to walk really fast to try to get to class on time and sometimes I’m still late, which makes me anxious because I don’t like disrupting the class once they’ve already started the lesson.
So, good luck finding a parking space ‘Guins! Now if you’ll excuse me, I don’t want to be late for class.