Written by Ariel Connell, Staff Writer
Why has Poly’s parking situation become so difficult? Is anything in the works about managing the issue present? Read further to find out.
Since the return from winter break, the amount of people driving to school has dramatically increased. With that, comes the dilemma of trying to find parking in the mornings in the laughably small parking lot that sits on the Central side of the school. If one does not arrive before 8:10 a.m., the probability of them getting to class on time is close to none. Benjamin Solis (12) explains that he “once had to park so far down a neighborhood off Victoria, that [he] missed about ten minutes of class”.
Due to the extremely limited parking,the lot fills quickly, so one better hope that they never run late or else half their first period is already over. Why? Because there is absolutely nowhere to park. Mr. Hansen has sent out multiple letters as of late explaining that students can no longer park at the church across the street either, which was previously a backup plan for most students. It is even worse when it rains. The saying that “Californians can’t drive in the rain” is reinforced in the Poly parking lot a hundred times over. Traffic seems to double in intensity when some water hits the cement!
So if students arrive at school before or after the bell rings, where can they park?
The answer: Up Central in a neighborhood, or way down Victoria. It is a far walk either way.
Some students call for a parking lot to be built in the empty lot across the street that lays diagonal from the school, but no clear action has been taken by the school to instate this idea.
On the contrary, other students claim that sophomores should not be allowed to park in the lot. Caterina Vadussi (12) argues they have to “earn their rights,” and they are “taking up so many spots now that they all turned 16 over break”. With a high number of sophomores getting their license around winter break, the parking lot fills even faster than it did previously, making parking an even harder task than it already is.
Besides the limited parking, the after school traffic has major issues. I conducted an experiment myself to see what it really feels like to leave right after school. I had previously left during sixth period and it took about three to five minutes to leave the parking lot, a reasonable amount of time considering traffic fluctuates. On a Tuesday afternoon, I began my departure out of the parking lot at 3:22 p.m., and I finally turned left onto Central at 3:36 p.m. It took 14 minutes to leave. Why, you may ask? There is no one directing traffic so no one pulls all the way up in the pickup zone, and the side gate is closed which means all traffic has to leave the same way to get out. I believe if I had left any later, I would have been stuck there much longer.
Another major problem is the fact that many kids speed through the lot. Surely they know that it is dangerous and reckless, and they are putting others at risk when going 30 mph through the lot. Leo Kretz (12) claims “my friend almost got hit once because someone was speeding and not paying attention in the middle of the school parking lot”. No proposed solution has been brought to light, but speed limit signs could always help. If drivers have an explicit marker to indicate they are violating traffic laws, maybe some will choose to slow.
There are many flaws with the school parking lot, but so long as one arrives at school early and leaves during sixth, there should not be an issue regarding parking or traffic. But what if neither of those things are the case? Even then people should be able to reasonably find a place to park relatively quickly so that they are not having to walk a great distance only to miss part of their first class. Some sort of measure needs to be taken otherwise students complaining about finding no space to leave their vehicle will continue to persist for the years to come.