Carl Goldfield had a question: In a world of $4 a gallon gasoline, global warming, and an obesity epidemic, should any institution be building three new parking lots so people can “roll out of their cars into their offices” or classrooms?
Goldfield (pictured) asked that question as he and about 30 neighbors of Southern Connecticut State University came out to a meeting at the student center on campus Tuesday night to learn about the school’s proposals to build those new parking lots. Neighbors weren’t happy.
Southern’s president, Cheryl Norton (pictured), began the meeting by saying neighbors shouldn’t mistake the growth of buildings or parking lots on campus for growth in the student population. She said it’s been relatively stable for many years at 11,500 to 12,000.
Two consultants from a firm called SMMA said that there’s a need to increase the number of parking spaces from the 4,600 in place in 2004 to 6,200 by 2015, especially since the school community is not underserved by parking now.
The new number is premised on the idea that no member of the faculty, staff, or student body should have to walk more than five minutes from a car to the academic center of campus.
Neighborhood resident (and attorney) Ivan Katz (pictured) wasn’t buying it. In his best lawyerly style, he grilled the two consultants, Mark Zarillo and Robert Hicks, about the details of their proposal. (They presented seven different permutations and recommended Number 6.)
“A five-minute walk is perfectly appropriate going from one’s car to one’s building in an office park,” Katz said. “I think it’s an excessively conservative number when talking about a university.”
Goldfield jumped in, saying his mother had always told him when he walked to school, even in the rain, that he “wouldn’t melt.” He drew applause when he suggested parking should be placed on the west side of the campus, facing the cemeteries, “and leaves us where we want to be, which is that the residential side of the campus doesn’t have parking over there.”
Hicks said it was a good idea, except for one thing: concerns about security, especially for women, especially at night.
Goldfield asked if that was a perception problem or an actual problem. “Unless somebody hasn’t been telling us what’s going on on this campus,” he said, he believed there wasn’t a crime problem. The school’s police chief immediately confirmed that statement, no doubt anxious to allay any fears on that score by workers, students and their parents.
Others said they’d like to see more discussion of a shuttle bus route through campus, which the consultants raised but didn’t emphasize. Neighbors said that could alleviate the congestion and the need to build more parking. They also wanted to know why Connecticut Transit couldn’t make stops on the campus, which the consultants noted sits in a triangle formed by the heavily traveled Whalley and Dixwell avenues and the Wilbur Cross Parkway.
The city’s transportation chief, Mike Piscitelli, noted that several representatives of Norris’s administration accompanied him to Hartford during the recent legislative session to push for more bus service.
Nan Bartow (pictured standing in front of a map of the area) said, “I came to talk about Beaver Pond Park,” which is located at the east edge of the campus. “It seems to me as though you’re not taking the interest of the park into consideration.” She said the location of one of the proposed parking garages would mean that people walking in the park would look up to see the back side of a parking garage, “which is not very beautiful,” she intoned.
Before the meeting started, a reporter asked SCSU President Norton if she would support more amenities for cyclists, like bike racks, in an effort to increase bike commuting and reduce the need for parking garages.
“I would certainly support putting in as many bike racks as the study body wants, the faculty needs and the staff can use,” she replied. “As an exercise physiologist, I think biking to work is one of the things we need to do, not only for just environmental sensitivity, but it’s good for your heart, it’s good for your body, and it’s good to maintain your cardiovascular condition. I would love to have students bang on my door and say, ‘We demand more bike racks.’ It hasn’t happened yet. What I don’t want to see is empty bike racks.”
An environmental impact assessment is being conducted now as part of the university’s Master Plan, and the earliest it would be ready is this fall. After that, a public hearing will be held on the parking proposal.