BY JACK STROUD
In the winter of 2016 the Geoduck Student Union (GSU) put forth a vote to defund Evergreen’s Parking Services.
Nothing came of this vote, and Parking Supervisor Susie Seip is glad. “Everyone would have paid a parking fee out of tuition whether you drove or not.” said Seip. “If people choose alternatives and don’t drive they shouldn’t have to pay parking fees.”
It is easy to overlook many of the ministrations performed by Parking Services and conclude that parking fees are extraneous, even if you do drive. It is easy to think of Parking Services as the agency one annually pays $150 for permission to let their car rust.
The Washington Administrative Code (WAC) grants Evergreen’s Board of Trustees — all appointed by the Governor of Washington — permission to implement traffic and parking regulations. Permission is the word to note here, as parking regulations are not mandated; our current Board of Trustees (and all prior) have used their authority to make parking permits a requirement.
In an assessment of the price of a new parking lot or garage, Washington State University concluded that the cost per space could range from $17,200 to $76,300. Parking services has no say in this, they are merely the proverbial messenger who often experience the brunt of parking violation frustration.
The WAC also declares that Parking Services must be a self sustaining organization. In an interview, Seip said “We’re not allowed to get money from the college and we’re not allowed to give it to them either.”
Parking employee’s benefits must be covered by parking revenue. The cost of benefits was one of the factors that led to an increase in the cost of parking fines and permits. These changes took place in 2015, when the cost of parking was raised, and then in 2016 when the cost of fines went up. Seip says that Parking Services “took a pretty hard hit before we raised our rates. Our expenses were more than our revenue. Now that we’ve raised the rates our budget is becoming more healthy.” Individually, more expensive parking is undoubtedly unappealing. Collectively, as a college, parking fees that render an economically sustainable Parking Services is more beneficial to Evergreen’s operations as a whole than a first glance allows.
Since Parking Services is a self-sustaining agency, they are required to pay other campus agencies for work done on their behalf. “If Facilities does work for Parking then they’re gonna charge us x amount for that work, but if they did that same work for say, Academics, they wouldn’t charge them because of the way Parking has to be seperate,” said Saip.
Parking Services oversees Evergreen’s Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) program, an organization whose purpose is encapsulated within its name. This organization is fully supported by parking revenue and, rarely, grants. Seip said “there is lots that can be done to improve the CTR program but very little funding to do so.”
Improving the CTR program is of mutual benefit to those at Evergreen and beyond. The estimates of carbon emission from privately owned vehicles vary widely, though it is clear they aren’t auspicious to a greener world. A recent study conducted by RethinkX concludes that privately owned vehicles sit idle for 96% of their usable life; as frequent parking pass payer Josh McManus analogously put it, “I don’t want to pay for the movie theater while I’m not there.”
To correct for this disparity, Parking Services promotes carpooling, bike-riding and taking the bus as alternative commute options; unfortunately, these are chiefly acts of individual volition and convenience. Additionally, Parking Services has spearheaded such initiatives as the commuter lockers (which can be found in most buildings on campus), the bike share program (temporarily defunct for lack of skilled personnel), parking passports (which consist of 44 free parking days a year for faculty who find alternative ways to commute 3 days a week), bike pumps scattered around campus, free bus passes for staff and faculty, student bus passes (included in tuition for students), and the nightline bus schedule.
Seip has many plans for the future of the CTR program. “Its funny to think about, okay, we work for Parking but we’re trying to reduce parking through the CTR program,” she said, chuckling. She hopes that, rather than putting herself out of business, the work will change as parking becomes more and more a thing of the past. Some of her plans for a financially unhindered CTR program include “people being paid for not driving, say you take bus to school and home you get a dollar each way, even I would do it for that and I have a long commute,” and an Evergreen, “fleet system — van or something — for picking people up.”
So the next time you feel like cursing Parking Services up, down, and backwards for a relatively inconsequential albeit inconvenient fine or fee, remember that they are filling a gap that is a consequence of our current transportation system, or lack thereof. And ask yourself (as a presumably environmentally incentivized member of society), am I driving my discourse? Am I taking advantage of the CTR services available to me? If parking is reduced at Evergreen, the cost of sustaining the department would go down and in turn allow more resources to be allocated to the CTR program, whose benefits and beneficiaries need not be restated.
As a final note to Evergreen parkers: if you receive any parking fine(s) that you feel unfair, Seip wants you to know that the best thing to do is get in touch with her or her department as soon as possible. “It’s so much easier to help someone early on than if they let it go on for a long time.”
She says that if you let your parking tickets go unattended for too long, you “are probably going to end up paying it.”
