Parking has been an issue on the RPI campus for years, as it seems to be on many college campuses. Not allowing freshmen to have cars on campus has helped by opening up some additional spaces. But the addition of the parking garage is only helping the campus to roughly break even with the parking spots lost to the various construction projects.
As we reported in the October 15 issue article titled “Parking plan does little to solve problems”, there is talk in Troy converting the parking on 15th Street and College Ave. to metered parking. If this occurs, there could be an additional 80 to 100 or more parking spots taken out of general usage even if they are just focusing on 15th Street from Sage Ave. to College Ave. and College Ave. from 15th Street to 13th Street.
This would mean that there would be an additional 80 to 100 drivers searching for parking spots. These are not just commuters, but dorm residents who cannot afford the parking fees, and overflow from the faculty and staff parking lots.
Then there are the students who reside in the area apartments. These students already are having issues with the “permanent” Troy residents who say that the students are parking in “their” spots. If you drive down 13th or 14th Street you can see the trashcans, chairs, and cones “reserving” those places. It could be a public relations nightmare for RPI if an additional 80 to 100 people are in “their” spots, not to mention the possible headaches for the drivers.
Of course, as with any argument, there are a couple of good points to this potential plan. If you need to run into the Union for five minutes, it should be easier to find a place to park. The city will not have to tow as many cars when they want to clean those streets. Troy may also make some money from the meter fees. And the cars that often get left in those spots for weeks at a time causing headaches for other drivers will have to find other homes.
Overall though, the inconvenience for all of the area residents and commuters seems to outweigh the possible benefits.
