Security Looks for Constructive Changes to Parking

New app and changes to parking lot availability may come in spring semester

Photo by John Matychuk via Unsplash

Lack of parking has regularly been a complaint among students and faculty at Marist College. The Fall 2021 semester has been no exception to that. However, worthwhile changes may be coming to make parking on campus a smoother experience for everyone.

Marist has 2,656 total parking spots on campus, with 1,924 available to commuter and residential students. So why is it so hard to find a spot?

“Consider Tuesdays and Thursdays the day after Thanksgiving; that’s what it is here,” said Director of Safety and Security John Blaisdell, referencing how parking volume depends on class volume. “Students would prefer a Tuesday-Thursday class schedule; professors would prefer a Tuesday-Thursday class schedule; when do you think we’re busiest?”

Blaisdell shared that parking lots near academic buildings often see more parking violations. “Donnelly, Fontaine, Dyson and a little bit of Foy,” said Blaisdell.

Last year was an easy year for parking as the pandemic sharply lowered Marist’s on-campus population -- naturally meaning there were fewer cars on campus.

“I didn’t really have any parking issues during the COVID year,” said Blaisdell. With many professors teaching completely remote last year, Blaisdell gave students the Fontaine lot, typically a faculty lot.

But this year, not knowing what to expect with the return to a fully on-campus semester, Blaisdell returned Fontaine to the faculty. “I wanted to make sure I started off conservatively, and then I can give some ground as we go along,” said Blaisdell.

Some changes may be coming this year, indicated Blaisdell, “there are some things on the table right now that I am considering for the Spring semester.”

One or two parking lots might be switched from faculty to student, with the potential for time and date guidelines to be in place.

One promising development that could ease everyone’s frustrations with parking is a new app that would tell drivers how many spots are available in each lot. Blaisdell shared that this is a very recent idea but could be ready for the start of the Spring 2022 semester.

“What I’m hoping to do is have an app that you can go to and say, ‘oh, at 7:30, there were 14 spots in St. Ann’s, and there were 75 in McCann,’” said Blaisdell.