By Isaac Cooper

The new assigned parking space system, has reduced the number of students allowed to park in the traditional student lots: the gold and black lots.  Students who in past years have not had difficulty finding a parking space now do because all of the assigned spots have been purchased by students. This has resulted in agitated students who could no longer park in any space they choose.  This is how the red lot came into being.

   The Hawthorne Road end of the faculty lot, overlooking the gold lot, is now known as the red lot.  The red lot comes as a saving grace for students who could not purchase a traditional gold or black lot sticker, as the only requirement to get a red lot sticker is to apply to be on the parking waitlist.

   “There were some students who never before had to worry about getting a spot, and now not having a spot they were getting tickets… and fines,” assistant principal Eric Puryear said.  “Our top faculty lot was not full… so we just moved some of our teachers up and created space at the end of the upper faculty lot.”

   This alteration to the faculty parking has opened up more than 10 spots for students to use.  As a result, there is now a working system for overflow parking that addresses a consequence of the new limited parking system.  

   “It hasn’t been done yet, but we are going to paint those [red lot] spots red so they [faculty] will know that our overflow students will have red parking stickers.  For years to come it will probably be that way,” Puryear said.

   The red lot is seen as a welcome compromise between faculty and students on the issue of limited student parking.

   “I am currently on the waitlist to park in the gold or black lot,” senior Nasir McDaniel Moore said.  “I have to back in by the [Wiley] gym… I would definitely love a red lot sticker… I have previously parked in there before and gotten tickets, so it would be nice to park there and not get a ticket.”

   Senior Emma Gerancher lauds the addition of the red lot as well, despite her parking in the traditional student lot.

   “My friend didn’t get a spot… she got waitlisted and ended up getting a spot in the red lot,” Gerancher said.  “I think it’s great [for her].”

   The only foreseeable foil in the red lot is the same problem that the gold and black lot parking students face: parents and students parking in assigned spots.  This is especially prevalent for the red lot as that lot has the shortest walking distance to go to any of the educational buildings.

   That being said, the applied transition into the red lot era has been successful as more parking spaces open up for students who need it, with minimal alterations to the established way of parking.

   “I think it [the parking system] has been working smoother than it has before.  We have been seeing less incidents,” Puryear said.