By Lauren Krakau
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Over twenty-seven thousand students attend the University of Arkansas, and out of that number only about two-thousand students can park in the Harmon parking garage.
That can make finding a parking spot pretty tricky – especially for UA senior, Harris Ulman.
Ulman said he used to park at the Harmon parking garage, but in order to find a spot he had to arrive on campus early and battle the crowds.
“I had to get there probably 20 minutes – 30 minutes early, just to find a spot because one it would be crowded with people trying to leave and two it would be crowded with people getting in and then it was chaos.”
Ulman said he feels with the new dorm being build right next to Pomfret, there needs to be a new parking garage built as well.
Many students feel like transit and parking are the ones to blame for the issues at Harmon, but Communications Director for UA Transit and Parking, David Wilson says those who hand out tickets are just normal people doing their jobs.
“We aren’t really as evil as everyone might think, and part of that is because they don’t know us personally, but we are ordinary people just like everyone else on this campus.”
Wilson is aware of the issues experienced in Harmon, and knows a lot of students feel the university needs a new parking garage.
“Sure we agree to that, but who’s going to pay for it?”
Wilson says that each spot costs about twenty-three hundred dollars and if the U of A built a new garage, prices for permits would increase.
“The truth is a lot of people don’t want to pay more for their permit as it is.”
Ulman says he’s avoiding the crowds at Harmon at all costs… even if he gets a ticket for parking in a reserved lot without a pass.
Transit and Parking said there is nothing on the drawing board for building a new garage, but students can park at Garland and Stadium Drive.