RHA requests lower parking fees

The proposal aims to compensate students moving their cars for games.

By Luke Udstuen

Published Oct. 6, 2009

The Residence Halls Association will urge MU to amend its parking policy so students parked in garages that require them to move their cars for football games can receive a discount in parking.

"We want more equality with the parking prices," Speaker of Congress Blake Lawrence said. "Right now, you pay the same amount to park in the Virginia Avenue Garage as you do in the parking garages that are way out behind the stadium. In many of those garages you have to move for game day."

The proposed fee reduction will reflect the inconveniences pursuant to the distance from central campus and the stipulation that vehicles be moved before and after the football game, the resolution stated.

RHA has requested fees for parking in garages on the outskirts of campus be reduced because of the inconvenience the distance causes, and more specifically, the requirement to move one's car for football games.

Safety is also a big concern for all students required to move their cars off campus.

"I had to walk once from Stadium to Broadway," representative Joya Tyler said. "Stadium is a very long street, there are no streetlights."

Even among the representatives in RHA, there were strong opinions.

"We pay an exorbitant amount to park here," Tyler said. "To not pass this would be a slap in our faces as students. That's insane, to not be able to walk safely back to our dorms."

The passed resolution will be sent to Jim Joy, director of the department of parking and transportation, and Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Cathy Scroggs, Lawrence said.

Lawrence remained optimistic the resolution will lead to action and said Joy has been very receptive in the past to changes proposed by the RHA.

"I'm totally in favor for it," Tyler said. "It's an inconvenience for me to move my car for someone who doesn't go here anymore, or for people who aren't even affiliated with Mizzou, but are only fans. They take my spot and I pay for it. That's completely unfair."

Some argued the alumni, who collectively give a lot of money to MU, should receive precedence in parking.

"It's a slap in the face to alumni who have been going to games for longer than most of us have been born," representative Joseph Bowles said.

Bowles is opposed to the proposal.

"If it does get passed, I think that there will be a lot of angry people," Bowles said. "That's why I was opposed to it, but I mean, I voted for it because it's a resolution. In my heart I know it won't get passed anyways."

The resolution was proposed to achieve a balance in parking priority.

"It should be even," Lawrence said. "If you have to move your car, and you're parked way off campus, then you should receive some compensation for that."

Little leniency will be shown to students who fail to move their cars, and towing will occur at the student's expense, the resolution stated.

There are no logistics in the resolution, because as a resolution it is only intended to address an inequality facing MU students, Lawrence said.