DAILY LOBO new mexico
Agree to Greed see page 4
back to school
August 15-21, 2011
The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
Parking prices rise as spaces are removed by Luke Holmen
holmen@unm.edu This fall, parking permit rates will increase for the first time in four years. Dorm residents’ permits jumped from $242 to $300. Motorcycle permits cost $70, the same as they did last year. Faculty and staff permits cost $36 more than they did tlast year. Student Juan Caraveo said the raises are unreasonable. “It’s really getting ridiculous that I have to pay a month’s rent to park somewhere,” he said. “I may as well just start living in my car for that price and maybe I can sublet the backseat for $150 and cut my losses.” Former UNM student Lorry Koch, who lives in the University area, said she refused to buy a parking pass last year. Instead, she would park her car on roads near campus and never pay the City of Albuquerque parking tickets. “The meter maids are bus drivers on a power trip,” she said. “They aren’t even real police, so they shouldn’t be handing out tickets anyway.” Koch said she was arrested and had to serve jail time for failure to pay her tickets. “I had about 37 outstanding parking tickets. They gave me like two
days [in jail].” Koch said her attitude on parking hasn’t changed much, but now she has a driveway near campus, and the city gives her parking passes for her residence. “I am selling my parking permits for 50 bucks each,” she said. “I have a driveway so I don’t care. And then when you see the meter maid guy, stick it to the man.” Robert Nelson, associate director of Parking and Transportation Services, said the organization is doing all it can to contain costs. “We need to explain why we raised prices,” he said. “The spaces are expensive: it’s about $18,000 a space to build and maintain. We have a fleet of buses that are aging that run from 6:30 in the morning to 10:00 at night and we need to maintain this fleet so we don’t have to buy new ones. It’s about $160,000 a bus just to give you an idea.” UNM Parking’s most recent project, the Yale structure, opened in October of last year. It holds 780 spaces and cost $14.7 million to build. Permits for the structure cost $499. Nelson said the key to parking success on campus lies in structures like the one at Yale. “I think expanding parking on campus is a difficult plan without structures, because if you think about
Dylan Smith / Daily Lobo Parking and Transportation Services said it had to charge higher rates for parking permits this semester to maintain facilities. surface parking, just a bunch of blacktop, there isn’t any,” he said. “There is no space left to develop. Parking is going to reduce on main campus with all of the new dorm construction.” According to the UNM Master Plan, construction projects will add nearly 1,000 student beds to the main campus by fall 2012, putting pressure on an already-strained system. The demolition of the Santa Ana dorms cost UNM roughly 150 parking spots, Nelson said.
2010-2011 Rates 2011-2012 Rates
Motorcycle
$124 $70
$150 $70
Surface Lots, Students (if eligible M, L, & T)
$183
$210
Dorm Residents, Fall/Spring
$242
$300
Surface Lots, Staff/Faculty Earning <$50,000
$364
$400
Surface Lots, Staff/Faculty Earning >$50,000
$439
$475
Commuter Park & Ride
Banks ordered to compensate UNM
UN PUEBLO UNIDO
by Lorena Saenz saenzl@unm.edu
Eduardo Verdugo / AP Photo Demonstrators marched to protest against violence in Mexico City on Sunday. The continuing tide of drug-related killings in Mexico have sparked demonstrations throughout the country.
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 116
issue 1
Indie Cred
Pointing To Victory
See page 14
See page 18
UNM and four other New Mexico businesses will receive monetary settlements from bidrigging allegations. A federal investigation revealed UBS Financial Services LLC and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC were rigging bond bids to sell bonds for less than fair market value. The banks will pay more than $1.4 million to New Mexico businesses to settle the bid-rigging claims. “The federal Securities and Exchange Commission is conducting a nationwide antitrust investigation focused on alleged bid-rigging in the municipal bond industry,” said Susan McKinsey, University spokeswoman. Some of the bonds in question were UNM bonds from over the past decade, summing to nearly $22 million that was issued in an effort to refinance older bonds that had been used towards building renovations on campus, McKinsey said. “JP Morgan was the lead underwriter in UNM’s 2003 series bonds that refinanced bond issues from the 1990s, which had funded academic and research buildings like Manufacturing Training and Technology, as well as the
renovation of Johnson Center,” she said. Other uses of bond investments over the last decade include work on a UNM Health Sciences Center, other building renovations and student loans, McKinsey said. UNM student Sonnie Williams said many students don’t know much about the University’s funding. “This is a very difficult situation for me to grasp,” Williams said. “I don’t feel like the average student at UNM knows what goes on in terms of bonds and investments. Hearing about this issue definitely makes me want to learn more about this larger scale of finances that obviously play a big part in what makes large universities function and run, such as renovations and new buildings and student loans.” McKinsey said the settlement is part of a much larger financial settlement that spreads over 30 states and includes 193 different bond transactions. The United States Justice Department announced a settlement in May totaling $160 million from UBS, and settled for $200 million from JP Morgan in June in exchange for a cooperative investigation and avoidance of prosecution.
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