The time is 10:15, and I am late to class again. I showed up 15 minutes early, but still couldn’t find a parking spot.

So, can we talk about how difficult it is to find a space on campus? Every day, I creep through the lots, scanning hopelessly for one.

Me and about 50 other drivers at any given time.

Such common sights on any given weekday morning include high-dollar sports cars parked in two spaces by people more preoccupied with the quality of their paintjobs than the needs of other drivers looking for a space, or games of chicken played by two people on opposite ends of a lot, gunning for a space that has just opened up.

And that’s to say nothing of the shameless, invertebrate, intellectual cowards who have the gall to park their mopeds in a parking space rather than the specified motorcycle blocks.

USI’s parking problem is thus—we officially have more students than we have space for their vehicles. It is an issue that should have been anticipated long ago, and cannot be solved by saying “Well, just show up sooner.”

Nothing short of building new lots can properly address this issue, I know. And there is also the question of “where will the lots be paved, anyway?”

Well, while you think of that, I’d like to propose an idea, as a sort of stop-gap.

See those lots near the Art Studio building? You know, the ones that have whole chunks reserved for residential students?

The ones that are always empty, because residential students usually just walk to class? That is prime real estate for students with literally nowhere else to park.

If a possible parking lot expansion is being considered, give everyone access to those spaces in the meantime.

It is not a permanent fix, no, but parking all the way out there beats waiting 30 minutes for a chance encounter with a vacated space.

If it isn’t being taken into consideration yet, the parking lots are something that needs attention immediately.

I mean, I’m running out of different ways to tell my professor “I couldn’t find a spot.”