Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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PARK] BY R. VANCE BUTTS of The Gamecock staff Beauty, it is said, lies in the eyes of the beholder. To Carolina commuters, beauty is that small empty space between two white lines, and it belongs not to the first, but to the quickest pair of eyes that spot it, it's conquest dependent solely upon the reaction time and the vehicle maneuverability of the eyes' owner. It's a battle every morning, and the average student wonders just when the University is going to tackel a problem that seems to worsen each year. It wasn't always so. Until a few years ago, the parking problem wasn't a problem at all-but now with the present campus expansion underway, the parking situation is indeed deteriorating. Construction of the new biology and history complexes as well as the Russell House expansion has eliminated many heart-of-campus parking spaces. The University Administration has not stood idly by during this Fine clot lev * crafts, bool and GREEN provid caroli. with t faciliti servic progri .NG SP ft's Not Goi crisis. It is presently pursuing a goal that will alleviate the parking crunch, by providing parking space on the campus fringe. Ad ditionally, the construction of the new Pendleton Street Garage is underway, with completion slated for the fall. There were also, until recently, three committees ap pointed by President Patterson to study the parking situation and to make recommendations. The findings of the Faculty Advisory Committee and the Special Ad Hoc Advisory Committee (chaired by Professor Milledge B. Seigler) were consolidated into the New Presidential Advisory Committee on Parking (NPACP), chaired by Barry Rosen, assistant to President Patterson. In a letter to President Patterson 'in April of this year, the NPACP recommended a shift to faculty staff parking based on seniority, a shift to faculty-staff pay parking, relocation of student parking to the south and west portions of campus, a fee status for the Columbia Hall hing, ielry CS, gifts more... ST. AT FIVE POINTS ing the ia comrr ;he finesi 85s, es & ams iCE ng To Get. Capstone lots (student), a fee basis for the McMaster and BA lots (faculty-staff) and the metering of the 1600 College St. lot for students. East campus visitor parking would be moved to the Pendleton Street Garage, while west campus visitors would park in the Coliseum lots. Also, the NPACP stressed the need for a master advisory com mittee on parking, to be a per manent, authoritative sub committee under the Facilities and Grounds Advisory Committee (FGAC). In a recent interview, Barry Rosen reflected on the present parking situation and on the NPACP proposals. "The NPACP was appoined specifically to look at possible long-range solutions. It had nothing to do with the im mediate future. What we were looking at is how we can solve what seems to be a very severe parking shortage. We can't eliminate cars -they're a modern fact of life," he said. "Certain parts of the NPACP lunity a in Any Easiei proposals were accepted, others were not, but the general idea (of peripheral parking) was ac cepted," Rosen said. "The present problem is simply one of musical chairs. We're going to lose some places for next fall, and we wanted "We can't eliminate c they're a i to see how best to utilize what space we have on campus." Rosen added that parking space would dwindle mostly in the east campus area, especially at the sight of the new Gambrell building, under construction near the present Humanities complex. "We had a shortage of approximately 500 spaces for this fall, before we came up with spaces at Booker T. Washington and a greater utilization of one or two other lots. I think we'll break even," Rosen said. With the fall situation under control, attention turns towards the more serious long-range problems. Richard A. Rempel, professor of history and recently resigned chairman of the FGAC was also a member of the NPACP. Before resigning from a successful career at USC to take a position at a Canadian University, Rempel talked about the NPACP proposals and goals. He said that first of all he would like to see the inclusion of a permanent parking sub committee in the FGAC (now chaired by Professor Wade Bat son). Rempel said that "What I wanted to do (as head of the FGAC is to make this (NPACP) com mittee the single parking com mittee that would decide present and future parking policies and plans. "I tried to keep it consistent. My russell hc To Find whole point as Chairman of Facilities and Grounds was to make some orderly, rational organization of committees dealing with facilities and grounds. Parking is part of that, and, rather than creating one ad hoc com ars - nodern fact of life." - Barry Rosen mittee after another, this NPACP ought to be an adjunct standing subcommittee of the FGAC." Perhaps the most controversial recommendation of the NPACP was a proposed switch to faculty staff pay parking--one of the few fringe benefits now enjoyed by USC faculty and staff. Rempel said the committee supported the fee system because free parking is a luxury that most state univer sities no longer provide. "The members of this committee were prepared to bite the bullet," Rempel said. "One reason the faculty has so zealously guarded free parking is that traditionally the faculty here has had relatively fewer fringe benefits than those at most state universities. That's a legitimate point. "There's another point," Rempel said. "If you look at universities throughout the couintry, it is every year more attractive to be at USC. The faculty improves, the long-run propspects of the state are healthy economically and demographically. On the whole, the prospects of this university are extremely good in the immediate and long-run long-term." At present, there would be no benefits to replace the loss of free parking, but the monies generated would not be wasted. Rempel and others envision the construction of Please Turn to Page 8B U C