International student experiences an American pasttime -- Page 8
A Student Publication of the University of Hawaiʻi • Honolulu Community College • November 2016
Parking survey says ...
Ka Lā photo by Tiera Spencer
Campus vents, plans for changes By Larry L. Medina
Ka Lā staff writer
More than two months into the Fall 2016 semester, students and faculty filled out a survey on the parking experience on campus. They had a lot to say. "They (Student Government) went through an exhaustive amount of comments," said Emily Kukulies, director of Student Life and Development who provided oversight to the survey. "(SG) interviewed students as to what the nature of the problem was, and then they (created) the (email) survey.” Generally in surveys, the public comments are left blank, Kukulies said. "Not in this case. There
were four and five paragraph-long answers, so there was a lot there to process." Student government leaders sifted through the data to define what students' wishes were in regards to parking. "Basically, what the situation is, is that students want a safe and easy place to park on campus available to them when they want it," Kukulies said. The survey collected data and comments over a span of two weeks and was shared with Ka Lā in unedited form. There were some comments regarding remote Lot 8, located off-campus on Kokea St. There were minimal concerns about the distance (about a 10-minute walk),
but instead the majority of complaints were of the lack of security monitoring of the lot itself. "(Students) are not comfortable leaving their cars there unattended,” said a survey responder. "I would be for moving a security person to that lot as a security presence to help people feel safe leaving their cars in the lot all day." Even those who don't drive to school had something to say. "I don't have a car mainly because I live near school, but I wish they had more security in general." Another survey responder suggested improvements to the bus stops, which could encourage less driving to school, and perhaps al-
leviate some of the traffic congestion in and out of the lots that was a major complaint in the survey. "I think that the bus stops running westbound on Dillingham should be examined for lighting issues. The one fronting Building 6 is dark , and the stop fronting the construction could use some renovations." Along with concerns of secu-
rity presence, there was the issue of enforcement, mostly over Lot 1 and 1C, the most utilized of all the 15 student and faculty lots available in and around HonCC. One survey respondent felt that Continued on Page 3