Editorial

The parking lament

During the summer months in Southeast Missouri, it gets hot. In the winter it turns cold. When school is in session, there is never enough parking to suit Southeast Missouri State University students.

Those are the facts.

Another fact is that some students -- any not just a few, it seems -- prefer to be ticketed for improper parking on campus than to walk from any of the university lots or ride the shuttle buses that crisscross the campus every few minutes.

The university in recent years has tried to catch up with the every-student-has-a-car reality of today's mobile society. Millions of dollars have been spent to add parking, including the large lots and parking garage near the Show Me Center. Some of those dollars have been used to construct special transit roads for shuttle buses so they can get closer to where students want to go.

As might be expected, the closest parking is the most expensive. And the university sells more permits than parking spaces in some areas, because it knows not every permit holder is likely to be on campus at the same time. Occasionally, some smaller lots are full when permit holders want to park there.

University students are like any other motorists. Visitors to Cape Girardeau's bustling downtown area complain about parking even though the city has made major improvements in the large lot between Independence and William streets. Shoppers at West Park Mall complain when they have to walk more than a few yards from parked vehicles to the mall entrance. Diners are many of area's busy restaurants complain when the parking spaces closest to the door are already taken.

Yes, it's cold outside, But when next July rolls around, it will be hot again. And complaints about parking? They will, to paraphrase one of the Gospels, be always with us.

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