New parking update

A much needed remodel that has been in the works and is finally coming to UWT.

As students who have been a part of the UW Tacoma community before the lockdown know, parking is a major issue on our campus. Trying to find parking after 8 a.m. can be quite the task and that task only increases in difficulty as the day goes on.

If you are lucky enough to get a parking spot close to campus, it makes it easier to get to and from class if you are running late. But there is a price, and that price comes every two hours when the meter demands more money or requires you to move your car to comply with on-street parking regulations. This becomes an issue for students whose classes run longer than the two hour mark, making them leave in the middle of class in order to avoid the dreaded yellow envelope.

With the state slowly opening up, and UWT planning to start in person classes again in the autumn, old issues are coming back to haunt us, and parking is on the top of the list. Students who started school during COVID–19 might not fully understand the parking issue that the campus has, but for returning students, they are not excited to start the parking battles again. 

Luckily, they may not have to. UWT has decided that they are going to be putting in a parking garage on campus in the Cragle parking lot located across from the Mattress Factory. Construction will begin this quarter in hopes of the facility being completed by autumn for students to use. The ground level would be reserved for professors and faculty, but the other levels would be fair game for students and the public.

Students can buy a pass in order to use the garage or pay hourly at the machines that are already located in the lot. The hourly times in the garage will be longer than the two hour mark that current meters have, making sure that students are not having to miss valuable class time to go feed the parking meter.  

Having a parking garage this close to campus will have a number of benefits for students who come to school to be able to learn without having to worry about getting parking tickets. It can also help make students who have classes later in the day and into the night feel safer. Instead of having to walk down by the Tacoma Dome or hike all the way up the hill from campus.

All of these things will ensure a safer and more convenient experience for students. And if they are still uncomfortable, then campus security is able to go with them since it is on campus, currently campus security is unable to accompany students to locations that are off-site, for example the parking lots that are by the Tacoma Dome which can get very dark in the evenings

April fools! Sadly this parking garage is not a reality. Currently there are no solutions to the parking issue  in the works! As an ongoing issue on campus, nothing is going to change unless we as students stand up and say something about it.