UTSA has 30,000 students, but only 8,450 parking spaces. This prompted UTSA student Sarah Brown to start a change.org petition titled “Create Better Student Parking at UTSA.” The petition has 300 of the 500 signatures it needs to be sent directly to UTSA President Ricardo Romo.
Interview conducted by Gaige Davila
Q: Why did you start the petition? Did it stem from personal experience with UTSA’s parking or from students?
I began the petition at the beginning of the summer. I missed my second day of class because of parking. I arrived on campus nearly an hour early, and after driving around wasting gas for 40 minutes, I gave up. It wasn’t worth wasting any more gas to find a spot. Every year, students have to purchase a $150 parking pass, yet it doesn’t guarantee us a spot.
Q: Have you reached out to UTSA, or have they reached out to you about the petition?
I am waiting for the petition to have a significant number of signatures. Currently, it has 312 signatures. I would like there to be 500 signatures before I go to UTSA officially.
Q: Have you been promoting the change.org petition on campus? What response, if any, have you gotten from students or faculty?
I have been promoting the petition via social media. That’s the way to get stuff done in today’s world. I’ve asked my friends to share it on their Facebook pages, and UTSA Memes shares it as well.
Q: What changes would you specifically suggest to fix UTSA’s parking?
The fastest way to create more parking would be to re-paint the commuter surface lots. Currently, the parking spots are painted at 90 degrees. If UTSA were to paint the parking spots at 45 degree angles (much like you see in HEB parking lots), then you will save more space and therefore be able to create more parking spaces. UTSA should paint the lots during the weekend, so as to not disturb the normal flow of traffic during the week. My next step would be to create stacked commuter lots, or parking garages. This should be done without raising the cost of the commuter parking prices. Stacked lots are a more efficient way to have the massive amount of commuter students At UTSA park. It makes the most sense to me.
