dailygamecock.com UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2014
VOL. 114, NO. 61 • SINCE 1908
Parking decreases as enrollment rises Students suffer from space shortage as university takes out lots Thad Moore
TMOORE@DAILYGAMECOCK.COM
Even before USC closed a parking lot near the Carolina Coliseum, the university had removed more than 2,100 spots in three years, while adding nearly 1,600 students. Bond documents show that there were 14,692 parking spots on campus at the end of this January between park ing lots and garages. But in January 2011, the earliest available year, t here were about 16,822, a decrease of 2,130 spots or more than 12.5 percent. At the same time, university records show that enrollment grew by 1,591 students. That drop doesn’t include t he Coliseum park ing lot that closed earlier this month or the lot that will be closed later in the year, which account for 669 spots, according to USC spokesman Wes Hickman. Add them in, and there will be about 2,800 fewer spots, a drop of 16.6 percent over three years. The Coliseum lots will be replaced by a pair of privately built apartment buildings that will include 721 parking spots, according to city records. The first building will open in Fall 2015
and the other in Fall 2016. Hickman said that the university still has parking capacity — there are often spots available in Discovery and the Athletics Village Garage, he said — but students might not be able to park right by the buildings they’re headed to and might have to use campus shuttles more. “There is a plan. There is capacity. Does it necessit ate a cha nge i n behavior? Probably so,” Hickman said. “We have to recognize that in a thriving urban environment, you don’t park right outside the place you’re going to work or you’re going to class.” USC do e s n’t h ave a p a rk i n g problem, he said. Instead, it has a problem of perception because it isn’t as “easy and abundant” as it once was. The majority of the spots that USC lost were surface parking, mostly grass and gravel lots, like one near the Public Health Research Center on Assembly Street, Hickman said. The loss of surface parking is part of the reality of the growing development of Columbia’s downtown, Hickman said; park ing garages are a more efficient use of space. And because the university can’t use state funding or tuition money on parking, those garages, which are far more expensive than parking lots, PARKING • 2
@thadmoore Even before the Coliseum lot closed, USC lost over 2,000 parking spots in 3 years; it says there’re still enough spots. What’s your take? @BRIEL_WHITE USC’s lack of parking is really starting to tick me off @BSchulken Something has to be done about this parking crisis!! It’s out of control! I am beyond ready to move! @burkekr agree. Just not the spots ppl want. Discovery and Horizon not filled. As campus moves, those become prime for use, but expensive @_JonathanHolt until we’re consistently selling out our parking decks, I’d say we have spaces. We have it way better than other schools our size @KB09Gamecock anything involving the words “good” and “parking” on any major, public university campus is a lie
Remembering freshman year For the last few papers of the semester, The Daily Gamecock is turning to the students. Today, read about first-year students’ most memorable moments. Bradley Johnston, first-year political science student “The best was in the (Horseshoe) deli line, talking to my girl, Gloria. She knows my order, she doesn’t even have to ask me. I walk up, she grabs it, scans it, hands it to me. It’s like an unspoken kind of thing ... That’s, like, the best part of my day, getting to see her.” Daniel Evans, first-year international business student “I was at formal one night, and I had to get home. I took a wrong turn. I didn’t take the well-lit [route], I took the very sketch, dark area beside the train tracks ... I was not myself. I got really tired because I was walking for a very long time. I was lost. Then I went to Olympia and fell asleep in the parking lot.” Olivia Eckart, first-year biology student “You know the train tracks behind Bates? I went over those things at 70 miles per hour. That was pretty memorable. I caught air. It was so much fun. Does that count?”
Palmer Thomas, first-year business student “I live in Kentucky, which is kind of more Midwestern than it is East Coast. It’s just been nice being so close to everywhere. Going to football games, since South Carolina is right in the middle of all of the SEC schools, taking trips to Charleston and going home with friends I’ve met was great.” Cannon King, first-year business student “Tajh Boyd throwing all the picks in the Clemson game was pretty sweet. I have a lot of Clemson friends, so it was sweet to have something to hold against them.”
Hannah Cleaveland / THE DAILY GAMECOCK
Puppies from Palmetto Animal Assisted Life Services (PAALS) paid students a visit Monday night in the Honors dorm to ease some end-of-the-year stress before finals begin next week.
Two music-minded USC students unite to form eclectic Scenario Records SEE PAGE 5