As part of my job, I am required to leave work to purchase supplies and then bring them back to campus, unload them, and bring them inside. The parking hang tag that is provided is not useful if there are no parking spaces of any kind near the building. Bringing items, such as food, into the building one item at a time can be very time consuiming if I'm forced to park across campus. I am concerned that this is becoming more and more of a problem.

Don't know if you have thought about using the old Married Housing for a CAT pickup/drop off locale...? It wouldn't affect the nearby neighborhood as there are turnarounds for the buses and plenty of additional parking

Over the past few years, I (among others) have noticed that you have been removing desperately needed faculty and staff parking spaces from the Sikes-Long-Brackett-Tillman area by adding more and more metered spaces and making totally unnecessary and quite unattractive sidewalk additions and so-called "improvements." These changes have not NOT been improvements, and they have made the parking situation for those of us who work here all the more problematic. You should be ADDING needed spaces for employees, not unnecessarily subtracting them. You are not inspiring Clemson employees to put any faith or trust in your unit or its intentions.
Linda Nilson

No one listens. I frequently get to work before it gets light or leave after dark. I've mentioned that I don't feel safe walking far to my car, but everything I see always talks about getting rid of parking close to central buildings. This is a total disregard for the opinions of those of us who work nonstandard hours!

Since this project will obviously cost a ton of money, will this project do anything to reduce the amount of revenue received from parking tickets? Or... will this just be an excuse to create more revenue from parking tickets?

Can you add more employee parking NOW to the West Side of campus? Many times I have to wait for someone to leave a place in order to park (and they me). It is getting so that my department has to schedule faculty meetings around times that we THINK parking places might be available! Obviously, this strategy is no way to run a University, much less one that aspires to be a Top 20.

in my opinion, the singlest biggest issue that confronts parking at Clemson has to do with the open access available to all users with no fee for use. we have implemented parking meters in some locations, but not nearly enough. each large lot at clemson should, in my opinion, have some number of spaces available for those with urgent or high demand needs. these people, willing to pay, should be allowed to use the limited parking available. using fees has been shown to work for houses, national parks, and almost other type things, and it surely works for parking in major and minor metropolitan cities. why not at clemson?????

Hello. I teach in one of the graduate programs and teach all of my classes in the evening at Tillman Hall. As sometimes is the case, I may have to drive to a meeting off campus or on the other side of campus. When I return hoping to park a little closer to Tillman than my usual Clemson House (on the hill) spot, I realize that the faculty/staff parking spots are occupied by students after 4:30. That makes dragging my computer and materials to class a bit more challenging. There are numerous faculty members that teach evening classes in Tillman and the surrounding buildings. I would like to request that some spots leading up to Tillman be reserved "Staff 24 hours" as I have seen close to other buildings on campus.

Thanks for your consideration on this matter.

I frequently work non-standard hours because of the nature of my research. Because I am often required to be at the lab late in the evening, I frequently arrive later in the morning when it is impossible ot find parking near my building. Carrying my books, laptop, etc... to the office from distant parking areas is an unreasonable burden for a faculty member at an aspiring top-20 university.

I often leave my office midday to run errands, or transport research materials across campus. Sometimes I even have the audacity to schedule a dr appt midday. This just about guarantees that when I return I will spend up to 30 minutes hunting for a parking space. And sometimes, there are none (I was helpfully told by parking once when I was within 10 minutes of the time I had to run my lab meeting in the Biosystems Research Complex that I was welcome to park by Death Valley and walk or wait for the bus- when I pointed out that this would take over 30 minutes, the nice lady said that was all she could offer.) This is just ridiculous with an armload of materials! And the one time I chanced it and parked next to Jordan to drop off a mailing in our main office, I came out 5 minutes later to a tow truck backing up to my car. When I explained that i had been there for 5 minutes, the officer said that other cars had been there longer and they were towing them all. if I wanted my car back, I had to pay the tow operator cash on the spot (no check or anything with a record) and she would let me have my car back for $50 instead of $75 plus getting it from impound. I did it, but this smells of graft to me!

The parking at Clemson is the only thing that sometimes makes me want to quit my job. Some mornings it takes more than 30 minutes to find an employee spot. This is an awful way to start the day! I don't mind walking a bit, as long as the walkways are safe and well-lit, but I hate to have to drive around the parking lots to find a spot. It adds unnecessary frustration and stress to our lives.

The central part of the campus becomes an unregulated target for student parking after 4:30, meaning that the faculty are left to compete for spaces with students tearing in to park near buildings, especially to get close to the Library. We need 24 hour spaces for faculty, or at least for the period 4:30 - 9:30 pm, which, ordinarily, is when the lots become vacant. -- Jim Miller, Geography

If I have to attend a 1 hour meeting on campus I must add up to 45 minutes search time for a parking spot to the 2-hour round trip drive time. Not many Top 20 universities think that the best use of faculty time is searching for a parking spot.

If I have to attend a 1 hour meeting on campus I must add up to 45 minutes search time for a parking spot to the 2-hour round trip drive time. Not many Top 20 universities think that the best use of faculty time is searching for a parking spot.

I searched for an hour to find a parking spot twice this week. I am amazed that there is no distinction between faculty/staff and student parking. I strongly encourage faculty/staff to have enough designated spots to eliminate the competition with students over parking. Even if a few spots are left empty, the cost to the University is minimal compared to the excessive loss of productivity from employees searching for parking spots. 2 hours of lost productivity this week at Clemson's expense. This is not the way you treat your faculty if you are trying to prove that Clemson is a top 20 University.

While costly in the front end, parking garages do end up making money for the University. I recommend you stop looking at the initial cost and see the long-term benefit.

The Cemetery Hill project took away roughly 40 parking spots for faculty/staff. Why? Did the family of those buried there complain? Did an alumnus leave a trust requiring it? Or did someone make an ill-considered decision favoring a ?vision? over functionality?

The walk from the commuter lots to Riggs is several hundred meters. Add up all the wasted time for all those affected every day, and this ?improvement project? is costing the university as much as 40-man hours every week.

As more and more spaces car spaces in the center of campus have been eliminated and as gasoline prices have risen, more and more people are using motorcyles of some sort and the spaces available are insufficient. Please add more spaces to the center of campus.

I am a faculty member. Like many faculty members, I have irregular hours on campus and sometimes do have to leave from and later return to campus in the space of one workday. On those occasions when I try to find parking anytime between 9:00 and noon, it's virtually impossible to find a space, other than the last resort, which is behind the football stadium across from the baseball stadium. It takes 20 minutes of brisk walking to get to my office from the football stadium parking lot. This is not the "convenience" promised by this campus in exchange for the money they take out of my paycheck every pay period for faculty parking. On those occasions when I have to leave after dark, I do not feel safe walking to the stadium parking lot alone. I have noticed that while there are no faculty spaces available, I have on no occasion failed to spot an open commuter spot. Those commuter spots are certainly more "convenient" than the football stadium lot. I have to wonder why there are so many commuter spots that some sit empty, while faculty and staff with have to "vulture" for spots or park a mile away from their offices.

We all know there is not enough parking on campus, no surprise there. And there is only so much space available to add more. Maybe some sort of deck can be built with CAT bus service to get us around campus to the buildings where we work. I personally think the only freshmen who should be allowed to have cars on campus are commuter freshmen. I think that would make a BIG difference in helping to alleviate our parking problems.

The parking around Tillman and Sikes is terrible and without a doubt sends a very negative message to faculty who are called upon to serve students at both on and off campus locations. For those of us who work in the evening or who work off campus, the situation is inconvenient, unsafe, and frustrating. The change in the metered spaces is a problem and has made the situation only worse. This decision appeared to have been made without thinking about faculty needs. This is negative from the employee perspective and sends a message that faculty needs and safety are not valued. To get a space, one must arrive between 7-7:15AM. Often students who don't have green tags are in faculty spots in the mornings. If one doesn't arrive before 7:30AM, parking down by Fike is the norm and carrying a bag full of books, papers, and a computer is a problem...even arriving by 8AM. Teaching evening classes, calls for being on campus 12+ hours on a normal teaching day..just to arrive early to be parked close so that when one exits a building at 8PM in the dark the walk is close. Walking 1/2-1/4 miles with loads of teaching materials is terrible just to try to reach our offices and classrooms.
Also, allowing students to park in green spots in the late afternoon is terrible since many of us begin classes after 4PM until 9PM or so at night and have no options for parking in faculty spots in the evening.

In the 4 years I have been on campus, you have converted the gravel lot across from PNA to open parking. If you meet off campus and then try to come to teach around 10 you can not find any parking spots anywhere. How can we teach our courses. I know of faculty who are cancelling classes because of this. 45 minutes to even find a spot is ridiculous. The insane proposal last year to increase fees to urban campus fees was also unjustified. You are taxing me to work here, you should give faculty/staff free parking. We have a "family" atmosphere here because we could come and go easily. We are known as a place to have a good life and raise a family. Not having quick access to parking is lessening faculty time on campus and ruining the Clemson Experience.

I often find myself competing with students around class change time for a space in the lot behind Sirrine. Many of those who are running late take the closest available spot and pay the $30 fine (if they get a ticket, which is by no means a certainty). It's infuriating! I have to wait 10 to 20 minutes for a space to open up when I can see cars with student hangtags in the lot. Why is the penalty for a student who parks in an employee space so trivial? Raise the fine to a point where it has a real deterrent effect --- say $200 --- or tow these cars away.

Ticketing student cars in lots that are inadequate to meet the parking needs of faculty and staff is not a well thought out solution. Towing is the way to free the parking space so that someone trying to get to work may use it. The ticket has lost its pizazz anyway. We need access gates that require certain IDs for parking.

We are having an increasing ly difficult time parking anywhere close to our buildings. We do not need so many metered spaces for visitors in the Sikes Hall Lot - they are rarely filled - often times the people with the gold tags park there, just to avoid taking up a precious faculty/staff space, but I walk past empty parking spaces every day on my way down from past Jim and Marsha's house. Why not get some professional help on finding additional parking areas in the spaces between buildings? I do not advocate a campus made up of all concrete, but it does not have to be all green space, either. We could place small pockets of parking surrounded by landscaping in many locations across the campus to take the pressure off parking. Right now, if I do not get to work by 7:30, there will not be a parking space available, which is ridiculas, given that we are being charged for the privilege of parking. As a teacher of more than 100 students, I frequently am carrying heavy loads of papers -- a convenient parking space is not too much to ask.

I've been a faculty member in the Business School for 18 years and each year is gotten harder to find a spot( which I have paid for) in or near the lot behind Sirrine Hall. Other universities respect their employees more by booting illegally parked cars. The Clemson policy seems to focus on collecting more revenue from multiple parking tickets issued to students rather than taking positive action to open up spots for faculty. Other schools also restrict freshmen for having cars on campus. Why don't we do that if the demand near classroom buildings exceeds the supply?

Parking has become increasingly difficult around Sirrine Hall. I spent 30 minutes circling the lot at 9:30 AM - eventually I parked on the far side of the stadium. Losing the lots next to the cemetary has created an unexpected crunch for faculty.

This past Monday there was a parade scheduled for 6:30pm on campus. ALL of the parking spaces along Parkway Drive (President's Walk) and several between Sikes and the Carillon Garden were blocked off ALL day. I don't believe Event Parking should take precedent over faculty/staff parking during regular office hours. Is there a plan to manage Event Parking during the weekday? I suggest buses run from a central location to campus for special events.

Our unit has submitted requests to the Dean of AFLS, John Kelly, and to the Parking Committee via the committee representative regarding the lack of parking spaces for faculty and staff. On week days we have counted 20 to 30 "state" vehicles parked in faculty/staff slots. We ahve requested that these vehicles be parked across the street. No one has responded. If that can't be done then convert some of the student slots to faculty/staff slots. New faculty and staff have been hired and we've run out of places to park.

>Hi,
>
>A couple of thoughts on parking issues at Clemson from a faculty member.
>
>First, it is hard to get a space unless one arrives before 9. This has unfortunate consequences as several faculty have noted to me (one just yesterday) that they just stay at home and work instead. Probably not real good for students and their contact with faculty.
>
>Second, I am almost afraid to mention my concerns as they will be used against me. My prediction is that a) there will be an outcry that will b) be used to build a parking garage, that c) will increase my already HIGH parking rates (come on, 200 bucks a year to park is a TAX on working).
>
>So, there are problems, but I have no doubt I will be economically punished for them in the long term!
>
>Phil Roth
>Management

I wasted another hour this morning looking for a parking spot. I trolled three commuter lots, three employee lots and the gravel lot. This is the part the administrators should pay attention to: I was recruited for my ability to get NIH funding. Once I get my grant funded, I will be leaving. If Clemson treats its faculty this way, I don't want to be here. Faculty should be able to do their work without having to wait an hour to find a parking spot or walk 20 minutes from some obscure lot. Clemson had better figure this out sooner than the 5-year plan proposes or they will start to lose significant indirect costs from big NIH grants.

Does Clemson think the path to Top20 university is by allowing students to park closer than faculty? Commuter student are obviously traveling from a distance. Why not have them park at the stadium and be shuttled to various places on campus?
Please justify how students that also are employees are able to get faculty staff parking. They abuse the parking spots to go to class. This is unfair for non-student staff looking for spots and for students that can't park in employee parking. This loop hole needs to be fixed to remain fair to everyone.

Reading the comments above has been a learning experience. Everyone complains about parking. This brings me to my point: Faculty, stop complaining about students in your beloved green spaces. They don't belong to you after 4:30, and if a student is willing to pay for a ticket and park in one anyhow in the middle of the day, then that's just the cost of doing business for that student. Once the belly-aching has stopped maybe we can find a solution to this problem -- rather than just fighting it. Bring on the decks!

Dear Planning Committee,

Clemson University requires a comprehensive restructuring of parking policies and privileges to meet current critical needs and plan for future growth in faculty and infrastructure.

Faculty and staff (particularly research scientists and course instructors) require and deserve maximum flexibility in parking access to accommodate non-standard or shifting schedules in order to increase scholarly productivity, teaching effectiveness and student access to faculty.

The duties and responsibilities of faculty do not fit neatly into a 9 to 5 schedule, the five-day week, or the athletic calendar. If the faculty are not given the tools and access required to effectively perform their scholarly, instructional, and service obligations, institutional loyalty is diminished and the university fosters the impression that faculty are merely tolerated on campus instead of being the heart of the campus. The availability of high-speed internet access at home, cell phones, and laptops make working from home a viable option. Faculty are increasingly taking this option at times they are not teaching to avoid aggravating parking conditions. This reduces the opportunity for ?open-door? interactions between faculty and students and harms the collegial atmosphere of the university.

The university should be aware that new faculty are most affected by the parking situation. New faculty generally cannot afford housing in Clemson and therefore must commute from outlying areas with less expensive real estate. New faculty are in the most time-intensive phase of their careers where long hours are required for new class preparation, grant writing, and establishing research programs. Additionally, new faculty are likelier to have young children whose day-care/school and transport needs constrain the ability to schedule the day around on-campus parking availability. If the university wishes to address the needs of new faculty, serious consideration must be paid to the availability of safe, convenient, and reliable parking options.

Several specific options should be evaluated for feasibility:
1. Instituting lot-specific parking passes in central campus regions of high demand and limited availability.
2. Restriction of faculty/staff parking lots on a 24 hours per day, 7 days a week basis (no after hours parking by students).
3. Construction of parking decks for devoted faculty/staff use.
4. Converting a percentage of current student spaces in the central campus to faculty/staff spaces to accommodate increased hiring and to compensate for the attrition of faculty/staff parking due to new construction and increased usage of faculty parking spaces by university service vehicles.
5. Increasing motorcycle/moped/bicycle parking for all users near high-traffic buildings to encourage less space-intensive transportation options.
6. Accurately assessing University-owned service vehicle parking needs and eliminate the use of faculty and staff parking for service vehicles.
7. Increasing the availability of time-limited spaces near building entrances for loading and unloading.
8. Encouraging the development of safe and dedicated cycling lanes or separate paths in the greater Clemson University area to encourage car-less commuting.

Many of these suggestions have already been voiced. Some are more feasible than others or will have greater appeal to faculty and staff in certain campus locations. There should be an open discussion and consideration of these and other ideas to solve current and future parking needs of the faculty and staff.

Sincerely,

Douglas Bielenberg
Assistant Professor

I am faculty member fairly new to Clemson University. I live in Greenville and have to commute everyday to campus. However, the parking situation is so difficult on-campus that sometimes me and my wife (who is also a faculty member) spend over 30 minutes to find a spot some place far away from where we have to teach and our offices are located. To walk from the parking spot to work is another 20 minutes on most days. That is 50 minutes of each day that we run around for parking. In a 5-day week that is 250 minutes - that equals 4 hours. In a month that is 16 hours (or 2 working days) and so on. Make that two times all these numbers because - we have me and my wife....How in the world are we expected to focus on research and teaching to help achieve the Top 20 university if we spend over 24 days a year (that is almost the whole month of February) finding parking. Maybe, Clemson will benefit from investing in multi-level parking facilitites. The question is where will the money for this come from....Maybe reducing the number of people running around in trucks - burning expensive fuel - just handing out parking tickets will help. Clearly, there is no need for 5 people to patrol the same lot. Now we can save not only on fuel, but also on pay to these people, benefits etc. That could easily come up to a million dollars a year. If this situation continues - Clemson will soon start to get marked down on quality of campus-life. Of course, radical progress needs bold, brave decisions. But, so far, I have not seen one recommendation here that is about action......so, you receive feedback. What are you going to do with it?

I am a music major. I am also an out of state student who pays over $16k a year (plus various transport costs and the price of a parking pass) to attend Clemson. I have over 35 hours a week of classes and rehearsals in Brooks, just like every other Performing Arts major. Obviously I don't expect a real answer from Parking Services, but can anyone tell me why I can't even find parking to perform in my own concerts? Parking Services has year after year exhibited a unilateral failure in their mission to serve the faculty and student population of Clemson University. In addition to a time honored tradition of stubborness and unwillingness to change, the department operates in direct violation of its own mission statement, failing to offer convenient parking at almost all times of day. Obviously words are cheap and it's very easy to smugly say that 'reasonable convienence' means being so lucky as to park within 20 minutes of your destination. This is wonderful news- my apartment is a 20 minute walk from campus (30 minutes from Brooks) so really I shouldn't need a parking spot by this logic. But let's think about this intelligently. My rehearsal is at 2 pm. Its a 5 minute drive, then 15-20 minutes to walk (as per policy) and I need 15-20 minutes to warm up. Is it really 'reasonably convenient' to have to leave 45 minutes before my class? In order to be sure of finding a parking spot at Brooks I'd have to leave my apartment at 8 am, park, and then sit around for 6 hours before my rehearsal. Anyone that's ever performed in one of Clemson's ensembles can tell you this is an incredible inconvenience. And to me, our [students] concerns are the ones you should listening to- we're the ones that pay your salaries.

Dear Mr. Robinson,
Yesterday and today I arrived on campus to find that there was no available employee parking. I was only able to park after
seeing a student exit an employee space in front of Hardin Hall on both days. I was not the only employee in the same predicament. I counted at least ten to fifteen other employees cruising the parking areas looking for a space.
In the past overflow on such days was handled by parking on Cemetary Hill,but as you know that area no longer exists as well as
the few spaces in front of Earle Hall. I understand that when spaces are taken for other uses new spaces are to be created, I have
not seen any new spaces.
I also saw that the parking enforcement officers were not ticketing student vehicles parked along Williamson Rd. though they did drive by them several times.

Sincerely,
John P. Hicks

Those of us who have to pay to "search" for a parking space each day, would like for you to reconsider your comments about there being adequate parking spaces available. Your comment might be true except that you don't account for all the students illegally parked in faculty/staff parking spaces regularly and daily! Thus your contention that there are adequate parking spaces available for faculty/staff is incorrect.

It's worse the the previous comment mentioned. In my area, there are AT LEAST 3 state-owned vehicles parked in "green" spaces. Some of these don't move more than once every couple of weeks, but for "convenience", the departments owning them park them in green spaces RIGHT outside their building. So, when you say there is adequate faculty/staff parking, count not only the illegally parked students, but also these state-owned vehicles as well.

In my job, I'm required to travel back and forth between the research park and campus for meetings. I can make the trip there in 20 minutes, and there are PLENTY of green spaces... seven miles from campus. Are you counting those in the "adequate" space, because I don't call them "conveniently located" to campus?! Either way, I have to leave there AT LEAST 45 minutes before any meeting or class on campus to get here, hunt a green space for sometimes 15 minutes, park LITERALLY a half a mile or more walk from the building in question, and then lug my laptop, books, papers, and the rest that half mile. By the time I get to the meeting, I'm soaking wet, out of breath, aggravated at the world, and not focused on the topic at hand, because I just keep hearing "we have adequate parking" reverberating in my head while I fume over how truly false a claim that is. Parking is NOT forward thinking, parking is NOT adequate, parking is FAR from "Top 20", and anyone saying it's adequate must have a reserved space near their building or someone who "fixes" their tickets for them!

As is the usual rhetoric, I spent a the better part of an hour looking for a parking spot this morning. My fellow faculty were also crusing for parking spots. Fortunately for us, five people simultaneously got in their cars and left. NOT A SINGLE ONE HAD A HANG TAG FOR FACULTY/EMPLOYEE PARKING!!! While walking in another person was sitting in her car talking on the phone. She also did not have a green hang tag. Tickets are a small price to pay for the student that violates the parking rules. Unfortunately, selfish students do not realize they affect others when they take a parking spot in faculty/employee parking. While a student may pay $16,000 a year to pay tuition etc. I bring in $100,000 from my grants. Who makes the school more money? Why is Clemson so slow to realize who is going to get them to the TOP 20?

A solution, faculty/employee parking should be for full time employees and NOT student/employees. Don't just give a ticket to a violator. Tow their car away and charge REAL money for the person to get it back. Not only will you make more money per parking violation, you will reduce the number of infractions so you don't get as many "friendly" comments such as the ones on this page.

Perhaps we should explore the option of parking off campus at some of the churches on the bus routes that have underutilized parking areas on weekdays. I am thinking particularly of Trinity Wesleyan on Issaqueena Trail, New Hope Baptist Church on Cherry Road, and the Unitarian Fellowship on Pendleton Road. There may be others as well. Those parking lots could be pickup points where people park and catch the bus the rest of the way in.

There has been a custom at Clemson that there are no designated parking places at Clemson except for the President and for handicapped persons, beyond "Faculty and Staff", "Graduate Students", Residential Students", and "Commuter Students". Since "Parking Services" was placed under "Student Affairs" there has been a continual increase of special parking privileges, such as permanent guest parking passes, administrative council passes, blocked spots for departmental vehicles, and reserved spots for specific staff parking pass numbers. While each can be "justified" note there are no special passes for "faculty" or "emeriti faculty". Further, available spaces have also been eroded by parking meters.
Again, while each sounds nice and welcoming, each has been at the expense of faculty. Consider erasing these "privileges" and consider constructing a remote lot for visitors with very regular Cat bus services.

Today is the first day of Spring break. Virtually all students are gone. perhaps some staff and faculty have also left. But it is clearly obvious that most of the parking spots in faculty and staff parking are open well past 9am. Too bad all my meetings that I must attend are not during Spring Break.

So I don't want to hear any more excuses from Parking about how I have to deal with Parking spots. The problem is students parking in faculty and staff parking. Put up gates with card access. This will help prevent students from parking in faculty and staff parking spots. Don't waste your time with $20 parking tickets. Put up a sign that clearly states violators will be towed at owners expense. $20 parking ticket to a student can cost the university much more in faculty and staff being uproductive searching for a parking spot.

I work at the Poole Ag Center and try to park in the staff parking on the hill. Unless you arrive before 8 am, there's seldom parking available; however, there are at least 4 vehicles (vans, truck) which are Un vehicles that are permanently parked in this area. One truck has a small tree growing inside the engine. If you would store unused & unusable vehicles elsewhere, our dispositions may improve when there are no spaces nearby to be found.

Every time I see that horrible, hideous new stone work on Cemetary Hill, it infuriates me to think about all the parking spaces lost. It puts me in a bad mood every morning on my way in to work. Because of those lost spaces, I now have to park over on the far side of the stadium and haul all my stuff to my office in Sirrine. When I get there, I'm exhausted and ready to go home.

I frequently visit campuses around the country and I find that most of them look and feel the same: parking lots with buildings here and there. Clemson is different, it has the feel and look of a park, not a parking lot. How refreshing. Keep up the great work that helps to make this campus special.

While - as a member of staff - I commiserate with the parking plight of my fellow non-students, as a recent student I cannot agree with any proposed solution which further worsens the student parking problem. As bad as employees have it, students have it far worse.
If you're regularly spending 45 to 60 minutes looking for parking - as a student or not, then CU is not at fault. I had to budget that much time for parking when I first attended CU, but learned to use the bus system, cutting car-to-class time to 15 minutes, max.
To those who are afraid to walk to their car at night - please call for an escort from - I believe - campus police. Don't take the risk.
To those who posit that the parking problem impedes CU's progess towards a top 20 school, I say: try parking (if you can) at UCLA (a top-20 public university).
Thanks.

I hate it when on a busy day when I have lots of things to do I have to sit in my idling car for over 15 minutes for a 15 minute parking space to open up outside of the financial aid office, but what I hate even more is waiting more than 15 minutes for said spot to open when the driver that finally appears is a parking enforcement officer. Hey mister! I waited 25 minutes on you! give yourself a ticket please, I know you would have ticketed me for the same offense!

With all the professors on this page whining about students parking in their spots, I'd just like to remind them that at least they have some close parking during the day. If a student goes to the grocery store or something, they can only do it in the evening when faculty spots are free for all. This is because at any other time of day, the 15-30 minutes timed spots are usually full and it is a pain in the neck to carry lots of bags or heavy items all the way from student parking or to take them on the CAT buses.

We carry our books and computers to class from the middle of nowhere everyday and we pay for paying passes and tuition. You at least are getting paid for your work.

How about riding the CAT bus to campus? It is free, never crowded and you can park at an off-campus location and ride it directly to your destination. I am appalled that professors are spending hours lurking around for parking spaces. What a complete waste of time. I would be embarassed to admit that I was wasting that kind of time when there is a perfectly clean and safe alternative to get me to work on time, unflustered and ready for a good day at work.

First of all, there is a major lack of commuter parking for the amount of parking tags that Clemson University sells. Today, the first day of fall classes, led to searching for 45mins at the PNA, gravel, C-1, Kite Hill, and even looking to see if I could pay for 1 hour of parking in front of Hendrix to get to my class. While driving around I noticed five parking officers in the gravel lot waiting to ticket anyone who parked in the grass...of course many students did as that was the ONLY option to get to class on time. I agree with many things that have been mentioned on the forum including the fact that many of the state vehicles will remain in parking spots for unheard of amounts of time. However, I do not feel that the employees should complain at all about the parking situation since they have the ability to park in any green, orange, or P-lot spaces. Students, can only park in the orange spaces which are very limited. Please make more orange spots so that we will all feel better. The main issue is that the University is selling more hangtags than they have spaces available. Have you ever thought about forbidding freshman to have cars, or even making employees and students by spots, not lots. Please take this into consideration. Thank you.

Many of the problems here would be solved if the shuttle buses ran efficiently around the entire (East AND West) campus throughout the entire day instead of the current system. Also, commuting in the CAT is pointless since many of the stops are far away from the buildings with the most staff and students. So not only will you wait for a bus, find out it's full, have to wait at least 20 minutes for another one, which is probably going to be full when you need it, and then finally board a near-full bus an hour later that drops you off several blocks from your destination or car, all while carrying an armload of books, computer, class materials, etc. The best solution is adding more internal campus shuttle routes and more buses during "rush hour".
If you buy a parking permit you are not guaranteed a parking space so quit whining.

I think CU is at a stage where you cant park right out infront of the buildings anymore. You are not entitled to have a personal 10x20 space on campus, suck it up. A place of +30,000 people in less than a few square miles is going to have congestion. I have seen alot worse universities and Clemson really does not have that big of a problem. The big problem is that people are addicted to their car and many people (staff and students) are selfish and think they can do what ever they want. Take the bus, carpool, and WALK! After all, walking is good for you! I think this campus needs to be a ped campus because I am tired of dodging the fedex and sysco guys, not to mention commuters wizzing by because they think they can get the first, upfront parking space at 10am. Think about how nice the core campus could be if you didnt have "Car Storage" messing up the view. To me, the only people who have a right to parking right infront of a building are the disabled, thats it. If parking is that bad, just pull onto the grass of Bowman...

Why are the professors complaining about students parking in available spots when the students are only trying to do what the professors are trying to do- park on campus.

I am a commuter student who only parks in commuter spaces, and I would like to refute the earlier statement that there are always orange spaces available. That's funny because every time I go to find one after 8:30 in the morning, I too am searching for a spot for at least 30 minutes, and even ended up missing one of my classes due to an hour wait for a spot. I don't like missing classes, having only missed them for serious reasons, and find it ridiculous that I have to miss out on my education because of inadequate parking. I got up early to come to class, not to sit in a parking lot with my car overheating, waiting for a parking spot I bought with my parking pass.

I would also like to argue with the statement that all students who work on campus are allowed to park in employee spaces. Admittedly, I have seen graduate or other students get into cars with green hangtags, but thought "How did they get those?" I am an undergraduate who has worked on-campus for four years now and have never been allowed to get an employee hangtag. I've often thought to myself that I have more right than the other students to get a closer parking spot (or at least have a guaranteed spot available instead of fighting others for a spot) because I do work on campus. It makes me mad to think that the student who just cut me off for a spot will probably leave after their 50 minute class when I stay on campus all day, rarely leaving work before 7 pm.

So, I can understand how lack of parking is frustrating, but again, I think we are all frustrated. I think we should stop blaming each other and realize that the real problem is inadequate parking on campus, for both students and professors. It is not my fault others can't get a spot when I am parked in my designated areas, having paid for a pricey parking pass as well. The issue isn't so much "who is parking where" as "there aren't enough parking spots".

As a student commuter, I do not like how there is only very limited commuter parking campus-wise. There are only commuter lots on one side of campus, whereas employee spots are interspersed all over campus...One only has to look at the parking map to see the range of the orange vs. the range of green. I'm not saying there is more employee parking over all, I am saying there should be more commuter parking located all over campus, like the employee parking.

I'm a recent catbus convert. I started riding from P1 on the Blue route in mid August. I'd been telling my coworkers that I'd try it & I dragged my feet - really didn't want to do it. It was a bit intimidating having lived in small towns my whole life. I am now completely converted and have only driven my car ONCE in two months. If I can do it, anyone can. I bring a bag of groceries with me to avoid paying aramark prices. I find myself planning appointments well in advance & scheduling multiple appts. It can be done! I've also discovered that there are employees who feel entitled to a parking spot right outside their door. I don't agree with that philosophy any longer but I'm single and don't have the constraints of others. I do say "join the crowd" - ride the bus!

Parking on any college campus has challenges. First think about the land use. Is parking the most appropriate use of valuable land? I'd urge use of alternative modes of travel rather than the single-occupancy vehicle. That will be the only way the campus will evolve successfully over time.

Here's an interesting thought that most other businesses would never do. Clemson University is giving its customers worse parking than its employees. Ever think of that?

Also, if the Cat Bus could have a regular day route on the East side of campus, as well as the west, that would balance things out a bit.

To those of you complaining about Cemetary Hill, take some pride in your school. The things those people have done for Clemson far outweigh the 20-40 spaces lost. Really, so self-centered that you can't understand why that area deserves to be treated with such high regard?

The CAT bus is more than sufficient for fixing 'inconveinent' parking, use it.

As a recent Clemson graduate & new employee at a Top-20 University, I find many of these comments puzzling. Major universities provide services to so many that not every faculty/staff member will be able to park outside their door. CAT routes from some of the further green lots would benefit those who have complained on this board about lugging papers around.

Parking can be difficult for students too... yes, there are a few who park in green spots illegally, but there are also thousands of students who do not. As a grad student, I often had classes until well after dark. I would not have a chance to move my car after I got off from my assistantship, & relied on the CAT bus to take me back to the parking lot at night. It would have been very helpful if the blue route to Kite Hill ran later in the evening, as the stadium lot would often be filled when I arrived to campus.

Now I work at a Top-20 University as a full-time staff member, & do not even receive the option of on-campus parking. I'm not complaining, though, as the university has an excellent bus service from Park & Ride lots around town. I don't have to pay for any parking permit, & the university pays for my bus pass as well.

Parking is definitely a problem at Clemson, as it is at most major universities. However, a change in attitudes &a willingness to utilize the CAT bus service will cut down on spending 30 minutes to find a space.

I have a question about page thirteen on your ?The Future of Transportation Services? development plan. You state in one of the criteria that ?Schools with more than one pricing option are represented as an average.? Is this an average of a list of the pricing options or is this a true statistical representation of the pricing options where the number of each employee paying each optional amount is taken into account.
Secondly, as far as the staff is concerned (and probably for most of the faculty), the wages that are paid to Clemson University employees is lower than the pay of any other school on your list for the same job title. I personally know employees that have increased their wages over twenty-five percent just by moving their employment to another university in the state of South Carolina and are they accomplishing the exact same job. Do you really want to increase the financial burden on our already over-taxed employees by raising their parking fees? What is your intent on this issue? If you do not intend raise the parking fees, then why did you include page thirteen in your presentation?

I?m a staff member that thinks parking is a serious issue for all of the Clemson family.
New building construction for the past several months has deleted many parking spaces for faculty, staff, and soon students. If the University wants the campus to be a walking
campus in the core areas. New parking spaces should have been added to the perimeter
parking lots before any new building construction. I know we have plenty of room.(approx 25,000 acres) We are not in Atlanta like GT. I don?t think parking structures is the answer either. However, they may help some. Also, CAT busses for the people that park and ride could have problems to. What if there was a need to evacuate the campus because of sad situation like what happened at VT. There is no way to get the people to their cars fast enough if an evacuation is ordered. Not only having a place to park is a serious issue. Paying for a space is to for some. Many staff members salary is like being on a fixed income. People already have high tuition, utility, grocery, vehicle, housing, and extremely high fuel cost to pay. We don?t need to add any additional cost for parking. Personally, I think any person that works or goes to school here shouldn?t have to pay for parking. It should be part of the campus infrastructure that?s funded partially buy the state and the remainder through IPTAY and private donations. I?m glad we don?t have to buy our computer to work with or pay for parking at Wal-mart. It seems to me that whoever is in control of needs to realize that we are in this together. If some were to lose their reserved parking spaces and high salaries then they might truly understand. Students that come to school and the faculty/staff gladly support all operations of the university because we are a family. If it wasn?t for all of us there wouldn?t be a University.

I note here that many of the arguments are about faculty/staff parking. Many state that:
1. They are frustrated by having to carry things to their class/office.
2. They do not feel safe when walking to their cars after dark.
3. CU is losing money when employees must walk further.
4.CU can't expect to be a Top 20 University when it treats faculty/staff this way.

I would argue that:
1. Students carry LOADS of things including laptops across campus all day long because there are NO spaces close to the buildings ANY day of the week ( until after 4:30) for us. Faculty/Staff should be grateful that they have SOME chance of finding a spot that may allow them to avoid the short walk to a building with their load.
2. If they, as adults, feel uncomfortable walking to their car at night, then they should be even more thankful that their students have the opportunity to park close to the buildings. Students are much less capable to handle any situation that may arise than employees and many are far from home and much less familiar with the Clemson area as a whole.
3. If CU chose to move ALL employee parking places further away from buildings, what they would likely find is a healthier group of people working for them - which would lead to reduced health costs/insurance premiums.
4. CU has many issues which are currently preventing them from being in the Top 20. One of them is the attitude of "I deserve...." from employees such as those who have written statements whining about having to walk.

With that said, I want to acknowledge that we all are (or should be) appreciative of efforts on the part of Parking Services and CU as a whole in dealing with the obvious issues at hand.

I note here that many of the arguments are about faculty/staff parking. Many state that:
1. They are frustrated by having to carry things to their class/office.
2. They do not feel safe when walking to their cars after dark.
3. CU is losing money when employees must walk further.
4.CU can't expect to be a Top 20 University when it treats faculty/staff this way.

I would argue that:
1. Students carry LOADS of things including laptops across campus all day long because there are NO spaces close to the buildings ANY day of the week ( until after 4:30) for us. Faculty/Staff should be grateful that they have SOME chance of finding a spot that may allow them to avoid the short walk to a building with their load.
2. If they, as adults, feel uncomfortable walking to their car at night, then they should be even more thankful that their students have the opportunity to park close to the buildings. Students are much less capable to handle any situation that may arise than employees and many are far from home and much less familiar with the Clemson area as a whole.
3. If CU chose to move ALL employee parking places further away from buildings, what they would likely find is a healthier group of people working for them - which would lead to reduced health costs/insurance premiums.
4. CU has many issues which are currently preventing them from being in the Top 20. One of them is the attitude of "I deserve...." from employees such as those who have written statements whining about having to walk.

With that said, I want to acknowledge that we all are (or should be) appreciative of efforts on the part of Parking Services and CU as a whole in dealing with the obvious issues at hand.

I have often said that I would be willing to ride a CAT bus if there was an adequate place to leave my car during the day. With this being said, I am coming from Liberty and the closest route ends in Central. IF there was a lot or space where I could park and not worry about leaving my car there all day, I would do so. If you check into other areas, you find Park and Ride lots which have adequate supervision of the vehicles parked there. We should have the same.

I have friends who have used the CAT bus and they live in Anderson. Their only complaint was the length of time they spent actively riding the bus. I am just a lowly member of the staff but my time is very valuable to me. Tacking another 1 or 2 hours onto my work day is not reasonable.

Has there been a discussion of limiting the number of spaces for students who reside on campus? Some other universities restrict parking of resident students to upper classmen. In other words, freshmen are not allowed to park on campus. Another possible alternative could be that we make resident spaces further away, use those spots for employees and commuter students. We would then have to provide adequate transportation for the residents to get to their cars when they need them.

My other concern is that it is very difficult for anything to take place with the changes to the CAT bus routes. It seems very unfair to take away many of the parking spaces and then cut the routes at the same time.

It appears to me that we need some fresh ideas which reflect an adequate concern for all of us at Clemson. There has to be a more reasonable solution to all of these problems. Not all solutions would require extra funding.

I am concerned that Clemson University is more and more becoming a "commuter school." Each morning I watch as thousands of students, usually one per car, fill the parking lots, and then depart in the evening for their residences in outlying towns. I think that the Clemson we know and love is one where there is a community, consisting of students who live and study on, or close to campus. This campus does not have a parking problem - it has a residency problem. I would suggest the construction of more on-campus housing and requiring a greater portion of the student population to live on-campus.

To compare parking fees at Clemson to peer institutions listed on the chart as presented by Geary Robinson is quite BOGUS! The institutions listed are either in an urban area where one would pay through the nose annually to park anywhere, or they're institutions like Clemson trying to raise money from the employees and students to alieviate the financial burden on the physical plant. Poor attempt at rationalization . . .

I work in Freeman Hall, and I am quite crippled with arthritis and another condition of the foot which makes my feet hurt constantly and walking is a real pain! There are no handicapped parking spaces close to the front door of Freeman and the ones behind Riggs are a good bit farther away (and if I get to work after 7:30 AM, I won't get a parking place close by). I do not have a handicap hang tag, nor do I intend to get one, as I feel that people who need them more than I have so few parking spaces as is. My condition will not be helped by getting a handicap hang tag, and besides, I'm going to retire within a couple of years anyway. How does Parking Services intend to address the issue of providing parking for "handicapped," or crippled, older employees in the future?

I work in Freeman Hall, and I am quite crippled with arthritis and another condition of the foot which makes my feet hurt constantly and walking is a real pain! There are no handicapped parking spaces close to the front door of Freeman and the ones behind Riggs are a good bit farther away (and if I get to work after 7:30 AM, I won't get a parking place close by). I do not have a handicap hang tag, nor do I intend to get one, as I feel that people who need them more than I have so few parking spaces as is. My condition will not be helped by getting a handicap hang tag, and besides, I'm going to retire within a couple of years anyway. How does Parking Services intend to address the issue of providing parking for "handicapped," or crippled, older employees in the future?

Everyone agrees that parking on campus is horrible, we miss meetings, can be late to class etc. What bothers me most is the insane dollar amounts of parking tickets. The administration is here to help us be better teachers, researchers and students, we should be helped not racketed. Issue tickets but at least provide enough parking.

I was recently pointed to http://www.clemson.edu/studentaffairs/parking/multimedia/pdf/proformo.pdf to see what was planned for parking. My concern is with the chart that compares the costs of parking at various universities. 1. While we would consider many of the universities academic peers, only a few would qualify as quality of life peers. Two, this kind of analysis would not pass a sophomore course. A simple ranking of numbers does not support any argument. Until you include a second factor such as average faculty salary or cost of living data can a true comparison be made.

I think the parking concerns are the same for faculty and students, and anyone who thinks that there are plenty of commuter spaces should visit the C4, C5, C12, C13 lots after 8am now that the P&A lot has been closed. Commuter students have lost many more parking spaces than faculty with no spaces designated to make up for the loss. Last spring there was no issue getting a spot in any of these lots before 9am. This semester it is full by 8:00am and full of so many students waiting for parking spots that no one can exit the parking lot. In addition, it is an extremely hostile, unsafe environment to have to endure every single day. As a graduate female teaching assistant, I also have irregular hours and have to be on campus in evenings and I am uncomfortable walking alone to far away parking, such as P3 or P1 at night. I do not have time to move my car and spend another 30 mins - 1 hr looking for a closer spot prior to my 3pm class/lab. I will be forced to utilize campus police twice a week to ensure I get to my car safely at night this winter.

The CAT buses now only run every 8 mins before 5pm and every 30 mins after 5pm where they used to run every 3 mins before 5pm and every 12 mins between 5-6pm. Wednesday we arrived at the bus stop at 4:40pm and no bus had come by 5:10pm, and the previous buses were full. The CAT bus should keep the 8min schedule until 6pm, as many students get out of class around 4:30pm and overload the bus system. The other issue with CAT is that the buses are now smaller and hold fewer people so they fill up much quicker. I live 45mins away because I am a returning student and it infuriates me that I add at least an additional 1-1/2 hours to my 1-1/2 commute every day dealing with parking. Unlike faculty, I do not have the luxury of leaving early or coming in later to deal with the parking issues as grad students are expected to be visible in the lab during core hours and beyond, so this extra time comes out of my home time with my husband and forces me to do work on weekends because I lose 7hrs per week.

Just what is the transit fee and the additional $20 for a parking permit paying for? Gas prices are coming down and Clemson is using student fees to pay for a biodiesel project that obviously did not get implemented. In addition, fees can't be deducted from taxes like tuition and this takes away one small benefit students do have while they are in college. Since this is an unavoidable cost of education, it should be included in tuition as all the fees should. There is no reason why tuition can't be aliquoted to different departments if properly managed. Fees may be a small percentage of an undergraduate's total cost, but they make up almost 1/3 of a graduate TA cost, and most of us are self-reliant and do not receive cost-of-living raises.

How much extra money is added to the parking services budget from all the parking tickets resulting from inadequate parking on campus, and what does this money go to? And what is the parking services budget used for since no new structures are being built? I have seen parking services employees sitting around waiting to give people tickets more times than I can count, and it seems that we should be paying people to improve the situation, not wait for people to violate parking rules, either intentionally, unintentionally, or out of sheer frustration.

The issue is that the parking spaces are assumed to be adequate because commuter students supposedly leave after classes, thus freeing up spaces for other students; however, anyone who is a graduate student and many undergraduates, particularly commuters, park and stay the entire day. If you look after lunch or late afternoon, it will appear that there are plenty of commuter spaces, but if you look during high volume class hours, which are typically mornings and sometimes early afternoon, this tells the real story.

I do not feel that there is adequate planning for growth, or there would have been replacement spaces for the P&A loss PRIOR to closing the lot. I don't understand why parking garages aren't being built on campus. Clemson has an excellent architecture department that surely could design something more aesthetically pleasing than older buildings on campus - the shoeboxes for example. The parking garage in downtown Clemson looks great. Parking garages in lots like C4, C5, C12, C13 would limit traffic through campus because they are accessed from perimeter road yet they are still a reasonably close walk for many.

President Barker, if you think these are just growing pains, think again. These are signs of a significant lack of planning for growth, and these issues will hurt Clemson's reputation as being a great place to work and go to college.

Charging employees for construction on CU property is a bizarre idea. CU usually seeks private funding of construction through the Office of Development in exchange for naming rights, etc. CU should provide free bus service from parking lots that do not require a parking fee. A large number of staff do not own homes, can't itemize taxes, and can't deduct parking fees.

Honestly, the parking situation on campus is horrible. I think people forget that we get more and more students every year, and less parking due to building construction. CAT bus routes have been cut this year, and even though the new Tiger route encompasses more of campus, it does not serve commuters very well. The past couple years I had two choices, to either spend more time finding a place in a somewhat closer commuter lot or park in a Park and Ride lot and take the time to ride the bus which got me to class on time. Now, I have to spend even more time finding a spot in the Park and Ride lot, and then I am able to get on the 3rd cat bus that comes, and they each sit there for 8 minutes before leaving. This is NOT working. It's not even about walking, my issue is that I have to spend so much time just parking.

There's really no excuse for the parking situation on campus -- for either faculty OR students.

Last semester, I had no problem parking near Kite Hill Recycling Center to ride the bus into East Library Circle. This semester, with the loss of commuter parking behind P&A, I have had to switch my work schedule from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. to a 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. schedule in order to obtain a parking spot in the Brooks Center lot early each morning.

I attempted to park near Kite Hill and ride the bus at the start of the semester, and discovered that with the new routes, I spent a full 25 minutes on the bus to end up two miles from where I began. Furthermore, in order to catch one of the "every eight minutes" buses, I would be forced to leave work early every day -- again, with a 25 minute bus ride to travel two miles. Walking two miles both to and from work each day is a little Lincolnesque for me, regardless of the weather, given the ever-escalating tuition and fees.

Good luck making Top 20 under these conditions, Clemson. Thank heavens I'm out of here come December. Furthermore, it would behoove the administration to remove those patently inaccurate signs in each lot stating that buses leave every eight minutes. After 5 p.m., that simply isn't true, and a "sin of omission" is a sin nonetheless.