Albright Parking

For four years now I have had an issue with the availability of parking students have on campus. For my first blog I wanted to take on this issue and get the students’, as well as, the faculties’ perspective on this issue.
After talking with fellow student, Greg Smith, he agreed 100% that there needs to be more available student parking allotted on campus. He said that this is the number one question asked by parents of prospective students when giving a tour. He is aware of the new parking lot that is going to be constructed in the future behind the football stadium and thinks it is fantastic. I went on with the question, “Do you feel this is a safe spot to allow for student parking? “ He gave me an answer that I actually had never even thought of. Greg would like to see some sort of security go in to that parking lot, such as a swipe of the Albright card, which would allow a gate to open. This would stop anyone from entering the parking lot that was not a current Albright student to allow for a safer and more available parking lot. Indifferent to Greg Smith’s answer, another one of my fellow students Andre Forbes does not agree that this type of security is in our budget. Forbes works for Albright security and realizes how hard it is to fund money for more security related materials to benefit Albright. He feels that making the shuttle system run more frequently and making it more available than just once an hour may benefit the security issues that we are facing at Albright. This would save from a student having to walk to and from various places that would be considered unsafe. An unidentified student understood that making more parking lots available would maybe mean tearing down buildings and understood that would never happen. He explained that if the availability were there to allow more parking spots available for current students then it would already be there.
Taking a different angle I spoke with Dr. Forte, chairman for the Campus Life Council and a religion professor here at Albright, and Officer Gross, an on campus police officer at Albright College. Most of their views were very sympathetic for current students. Dr. Forte informed me that he wishes Albright students were allowed to park in the two parking lots that are offered here for faculty only. He also agrees that street parking, especially in Reading, may not always be the safest spot to park, and hopefully with the new parking lot under construction will help with the availability of parking spots in the future.
Officer Gross cares so much about the safety of the Albright students, and stated if Albright had room for it, that there probably would be more parking lots, but the campus does not have the space to provide this. Officer Gross informed me that the theft and crime rate in Reading is significantly low in this part of town compared to the other side. This does not mean that parking on 13th street will be always safe, but that security patrols the area constantly to try to prevent any crime and theft. Officer Gross and the rest of the security department plan on adding the new parking lot as an additional stop to their shuttle route and considering to make consistent stops there to protect the cars parked there. He also thought of the idea as adding Oak Forest and Autumn Park as another stop, to allow students who live there to get a ride from our public safety. This makes it more convenient for those residents and keeps more cars off campus to allow parking for other commuting students. I hope this issue is solved the best way possible to help suit and make Albright as safe as possible.