University eliminates first-year parking
To relieve parking woes, University students will have to wait until their second year to get on-Grounds parking permits.
Posted 11/14/02
University students could have complained when Leonard W. Sandridge, the University’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, announced Oct. 4 that first-year students will no longer be eligible for on-Grounds parking permits. Breaking with a time-honored tradition of student protest at this and most other American universities, they barely made a peep.
One reason for the conspicuous silence might be that current students — the ones in position to protest — will not be affected by the policy change, which takes effect next year. But another, more powerful reason is they recognized that the University’s chronic parking shortage was about to get noticeably worse.
With demand for parking increasing and the supply expected to shrink because of upcoming construction projects and new Charlottesville parking regulations, the University anticipated a shortage of 475 parking spaces next year. Rather than increase supply, Sandridge, acting on recommendations from a University parking and transportation committee and from Student Council, dropped the guillotine on first-year parking, saving about 500 spaces.
A 1,200-space garage is being built off Ivy Road near the Emmet Street intersection to replace parking near University Hall on the site of the planned arena. Unlike the students, some residents of the nearby Lewis Mountain Road neighborhood protested vehemently.