By James “Buffalo” Saint Amour ’10
The Roundup
The biggest question that I ask myself every morning is “where am I going to park?”
Brophy recently changed sides of the north lot with St. Francis Xavier and Brophy’s number of spots has been drastically reduced.
This was a change that has been long in the making, according to Brophy Dean Mr. James Bopp, who said that the current arrangement makes more sense for both schools.
It used to be that faculty from both schools would park on the south side of the lot and the north would be left for students from Brophy. These were much simpler times.
Finding a parking spot was never very hard in the north lot because there was an abundance of spaces to go around.
Now it is a whole new ball game in the morning rush to find parking in the lot.
Students are now not only battling for a space with other students, but they have to contend with Brophy faculty and the parents from St. Francis trying to drop off their little ones, while avoiding the sacred St. Francis reserved parking spots.
Mr. Bopp said that it is important to remember that the lot is owned by St. Francis Church and school, and that the only reason we are allowed to use the number of spots we do is out of the generosity of the Church.
The schools are also trying to solve morning congestion problems by moving the St. Francis drop off line to the north side of the lot.
This move would decrease the amount of traffic forced through the single entrance to the south side incredibly, because only people with business at Brophy would have to use it.
The way that the changes were supposed to work was Brophy students and faculty would enter from the Central and Highland access and St. Francis traffic would enter from 1st and 3rd Streets so that the paths of the two crowds were less likely to cross.
Mr. Bopp added that between the north and south lots Brophy has more than enough parking spaces everyday to accommodate those who drive to school, and that even though the north lot may be favored by many students, it is not the only place around campus to park.
While both schools are taking a while to adjust to the new rules, everyone should appreciate the decreased traffic in the mornings that these new plans will hopefully provide as everyone goes about their busy days.