Written by KEVIN MOURA

Graphic by ZACHARY NEITZ

Las Lomas sells more parking permits than parking spaces, and that’s a problem. It’s a problem because it’s a race to secure a spot in the morning. If you find that there are no parking spaces available upon arrival, you would have to park somewhere off campus. Either at Macy’s or the hill on Newell Avenue, but even at Newell you’re not guaranteed a spot.

In the mornings, I usually leave at 8:00 a.m. It’s optimal for me because there is traffic on the main road next to Creekside Drive. From my house it takes roughly ten minutes; with traffic, though, it takes at least fifteen minutes. One morning before school, I was lucky enough to find a spot in the parking lot. Almost all the spots were occupied. There are tons of cars in the parking spots, and it’s really hard to know if there are spots or not. I was getting antsy on the steering wheel; I found one at the last minute and pulled in instantly. The bottom line is that students need an assigned spot if there are enough parking spots available.

Even if a student obtained a permit from the raffle system, you aren’t guaranteed a parking spot when you get to school in the morning. That is because if every senior was granted a parking permit, there aren’t enough parking spots to accommodate every student. I asked the office, and they said to get to the parking lot ten or fifteen minutes early in order to get a parking spot.

Students park on the hill on Newell Avenue or in the Macy’s parking lot. Newell Hill gets crowded in the morning, so you have to leave extra early to find a spot there. For the Macy’s parking lot, you have to rush out of there in order to get to school.

Matthew Williams, a senior, leaves for school at a good time. “I leave around 8:00 a.m. to try to get a preferred parking spot,” Williams said. Leaving at 8:00 a.m. is optimal because traffic has to be taken into consideration.

Daniel Spier, a U.S. history teacher, agrees that Las Lomas has limited parking spaces. “Oh yes, definitely. It has limited spaces. I can’t speak for students, but as far as the staff parking is concerned, sometimes we do run out of spaces. And if you get to school late or you have to miss first period, it can be a problem,” Spier said. He made a suggestion for a solution to the limited parking spaces, “Well, I’m not sure if you’re gonna like my solutions, but I would recommend, from the staff perspective, that some of the student spots be converted to staff spots.”

Luke Nold, a senior who parks in the parking lot, offered a solution. “Reserve parking spots for carpool cars that have three or more students taking the same car. Don’t give more passes than spots available,” Nold said.

Reserving spots for a carpool would make sense because, with a carpool, one car is transporting three or more students, thus saving about three or four parking spots for other students.

Not giving out more parking passes than spots available will give more spots to students. If they tend to get to school later than usual, they won’t have to worry about not getting a spot.

Overall, I think that the parking solutions provided—converting staff spots to student spots, reserving spots for carpools, and not giving more passes than spots available—are a great start to solving the parking issue.