By Garrison S. Murphy ’15
THE ROUNDUP

The requirement of carpooling to school just became more important.

This year the administration is tightening their parking regulations, and it might be necessary.

The “West Lot,” the dirt parking lot across Central Avenue, is being developed and no longer available for student parking.

Many students are aggravated about the administration creating new parking rules, but according to Dean Mr. Pat Higgins these parking restrictions may not be so new.

“The rules haven’t necessarily changed,” Mr. Higgins said regarding parking. “These are the typical rules of the school … going back historically.”

Last year was the first time students had the West Lot as an option. The school policy has been that students are required to have a carpool in order to park on campus.

Although nothing has changed structurally, students are still upset.

“It’s a pretty big inconvenience …the North and South parking lots are overcrowded … it used to take me only 10 minutes to get to school, now it takes me 15 or 20,” said Zach Chilar ’15.

While inconvenient for some students, parking space and safety are a much more relevant issue. Students who participate in carpools should always have priority over single drivers.

The state created the H.O.V lane to incentivize drivers transporting multiple people.

This is no different than the administration creating parking for carpooling drivers; we have limited space and a lot of student drivers.

The administration incentivizing carpools even further may be a good idea for the future.

During the first week of the school year nearly 30 students received tickets for parking violations on and off campus. The administration requested the Phoenix Police Department downsize the tickets to warnings for parking in nearby neighborhoods, according to Mr. Higgins.

The next big issue that the administration should consider is implementing more on-campus parking for student drivers.  After the loss of the West Lot many are forced to rely on the surrounding neighborhood for parking.

One student said that parking spaces are needed more than policy changes.

“Nothing (needs changing); realistically it has to be done … we need more parking … most high schools have parking lots the size of Disneyland, but we don’t,” said Jared Grady ’15.