College Square parking costs students

By Jennifer Baguss

bagu0001@algonquincollege.com

With limited parking places at the college and the Park and Ride usually filling up before 8 a.m., College Square has become the only option left for students who are driving to school during the bus strike.

 If a student wants to park at College Square, they should be ready to pay the price. College Square is still giving out tickets to cars parked in the area over the maximum 3-hour limit.

Nicole Gavard, a photography student has been parking in College Square since the strike began. As soon as the bus strike erupted, she called Algonquin to try to get a parking pass but was denied. “They were sold out,” she says. Gavard and her friend Lisa Andrews, a graphic design student, both think that College Square should suspend its parking restrictions.

“I’m the only one of my friends who can drive us to school,” Gavard says. “And if you can’t find a place to park, you can’t attend school.”

Samer Siam, a business administration student, is less distressed by the parking issues, “I’m going to park here anyway,” he says.  He also agrees that parking restrictions should be lifted during the bus strike.

Meaghan Dumouchel and Matt Emon, both in building technology have parked in College Square prior to the bus strike. “I try to be sneaky about it,” Dumouchel says. But during the bus strike she found the parking officers getting stricter.

Ruth McCarthy, manager at Hallmark in College Square, thinks that if parking were opened up to students there wouldn’t be any parking for patrons of the square. But she has employees that attend Algonquin that need a place to park. “I guess I’m 50-50 on it,” she says. “If I took the bus I think I would say, yeah, open it up.”

Natasha Mills, assistant manager of Reitmans in College Square, notices “a lot less parking spaces available.” She says that the illegal parking in College Square is not only a burden to patrons of the shopping centre, but is also a safety risk. “I’ve seen a lot of fender-benders,” she says, “and the crude dialogue that comes with it as well.”

 She says it’s a tough scenario but ultimately College Square belongs to shoppers, not students.