Something needs to be done about parking at samo

Art by Florence Fraser-Macduff

The student parking shortage at Samo is absurd. As of now there is no subsidized school-provided option for students to park on or close to campus, nor any plans to address this issue. Moreover, street parking in the area is scarce and often requires a permit. This lack of parking is problematic and forces students to either pay ludicrous amounts of money or compromise their education. 

Without access to school parking and without a school-provided bus system (an issue for another day), I rely on carpooling and my parents driving me. Having to rely on other people to get to school impacts their schedules and makes me dependent on them. It would simply be more convenient for everyone if I could drive myself to school knowing that I have an affordable parking spot waiting for me. 

While my family was able to set up a carpool, it isn’t feasible for all students to do this, forcing many to drive themselves. Anna Helgoe (’27), weighs in on her experience driving and paying a monthly $120 to park at the nearby Hilton lot. 

“It's really annoying because you have to pay and it's really expensive… But I don't have another choice. I have to find a place to park,” Helgoe said. 

For students like Helgoe, who can only get to school by driving themselves, their education is essentially put behind a paywall. The bottom line is that Samo is a public school and should not make students pay to get themselves to school. As the school continues in its phases of construction, there have been no apparent plans to add any sort of on campus for students. Even if Samo can’t build student parking infrastructure within the school, they should try appealing to the city to allow students to use the civic center or use some of the budget to subsidize the Hilton lot for students. 

To Samo’s credit, they have recently rolled out a new permit based plan which will allow students to park at a 4th and Broadway lot for $316 until winter break. While this offering is somewhat cheaper than the Hilton lot it is still not a great option as the lot is across the 10 and a whopping mile away from the front gate. Not only is this plan still about $100 a month, it requires a dangerous and long walk for students and, therefore, is invalid as a legit solution to student parking. 

I understand how difficult it is to give students an affordable parking option near the school and am appreciative of the ways they have tried to help. However, I think there is still much that can be done to assure that students do not have to pay an arm and a leg to get themselves to school. The school can either work with the city to give Samo access to public lots, build on campus parking for students or work to subsidize nearby private lots.