An half empty lot owned by the Jewish Community Center could benefit Wilkes students who have a hard time finding parking spaces on campus.

Last summer, I was finally able to bring my own car to campus for the first year student orientation session. Since I was assigned to Evans Hall, I decided the nearby Jewish Community Center parking lot would be a convenient spot to park my car. But when I texted one of the RA coordinators, I learned I couldn’t park there because the JCC would have me towed, so I would have to park in the University Center on Main parking garage for the rest of orientation.

Most of the time when I pass by it, that parking lot is never full. In fact, it is half-full at the most and there is no one parked by the residence halls or off-campus housing that is next to the JCC. So then why does the JCC have to tow everyone that parks there that isn’t a member?

Let’s face it, parking is an issue on this campus. Take one look at the Student Union Building parking lot or UCOM parking garage on a regular weekday and you’ll quickly see what I mean. There can be days where there is nowhere to park and we all love getting tickets from Public Safety for parking where we aren’t supposed to.

So I think for a solution to the parking issue on campus, the JCC should give up the part of its parking that is near Wilkes buildings and off-campus apartments and let Wilkes use it for a parking space. This could benefit a lot of people that have to find parking on campus, from students that reside in off-campus apartments to students living in residence halls along River Street to staff members that work in Conyngham Hall.

I know personally several students who live in one of the residence halls on River Street and have to park in the UCOM parking garage. They shouldn’t have to walk that far away to get to their cars, especially if they are ones that go home frequently.

Students that reside in Evans, Roth, Weiss, Catlin, Rifkin and Sterling halls and the off-campus John Henry Hall could benefit from the parking by the JCC because they don’t have to walk far to get to their cars. Staff who work in Conyngham

Hall could also benefit because they also wouldn’t have to walk very far to get to their cars, and most of them commute to get to campus.

The parking lot of the JCC is barely full most of the full. There are lots of people living and working nearby, so why not give it Wilkes for students, faculty and staff to use? It could serve as a good solution to the pretty big problem of parking on campus.