Planning to park on campus? Sign up now to pick your spot

By Marc Stempka-News Editor

Major changes are coming for the fall semester to California University of Pennsylvania regarding parking. Before the changes go into effect, the university is urging faculty, staff and students to pay attention to the new requirements.

University officials are urging anyone planning to park on campus or in any university parking lot to pre-register for parking online during the beginning of June.

A seven-page e-mail announcement sent from Cal U President Angelo Armenti, Jr. detailed the questions and answers regarding the parking changes.

University officials said one of the most important things about registering for a parking lottery to allow faculty, staff, and students to choose where they want to park in the fall.

From June 1 through June 15 anyone wishing to park in any of the Cal U parking lots will have the opportunity to pre-register online for parking.

Those registering will be able to choose their parking preference, ranking choices one through three.

The university parking plan calls for three tiers of parking choices, with only two of those being available to students.

There is no distinction in parking prices based on faculty, staff or student.

The under-construction parking garage and all university parking lots, except the River Lot and Roadman Park, are tier one parking. The tier one daily rate is $2.99 and the calendar year rate of $777. An academic year for tier one rate is $505.

All handicap parking (except handicap parking in the River Lot) and student parking at Roadman Park is tier two parking. The daily rate for tier two is $1.99, $517 for the calendar year and $336 for the academic year. Tier three parking, located at Roadman Park, is the only free parking and is only availible to staff.

The e-mail announcement said there is no other way to pay for the parking garage and parking upgrades throughout campus than to have the people who use those services pay for them. The reason for faculty and staff having the option of free parking is due to parking being free in their union benefits packages.

Students will have to pay for parking because “the state mandates that as an auxiliary service, the parking program must be paid for with fees generated from those who park,” the announcement said.

In July, the official parking registration will take place and payment will begin via the university’s online parking system.

Those who register and pay for parking will be given a parking access card and permit tag that will allow drivers to enter the university’s parking lots.

The university has developed a system for determining in what order priority will be given to those applying for parking permits. Faculty is first, followed by staff, graduate students, commuter students, residence hall students, Vulcan Village students, and lastly, off-campus housing students.

All student-issued parking permits will be prioritized first seniors through juniors, sophomores and freshman.

In order to process preferred parking lot choices, members of the university community are strongly encouraged to indicate their parking choice location during the pre-registration period.

The university is continuing to work on the parking arrangements and address concerns that have been presented by union membership on campus.

In his letter, Armenti said some concerns have been addressed with the creation of a Parking and Transportation Advisory Committee, increased shuttle service, and additional bus stops and shuttle stops on campus.

Two parking enforcement officers, who are yet to be hired, will handle parking enforcement. Enforcement will be handled through ticketing and possibly towing of illegal vehicles at the owner’s expense.

Weekend Homecoming Events Schedule

Friday, Oct. 16

5:30 p.m.— 15th annual Cal U Athletic Hall of Fame banquet in the Performance Center honors athletes Bryan Hartung ’03 (baseball), J. Patrick Hobart ’68 (men’s basketball), Sameera Philyaw ’04 (women’s basketball), Joe Sarra ’60 (football), Chad Scott ’93 (men’s basketball), Becky Siembak ’03 (women’s basketball), Marty Uher (track and field/cross country coach) and the 1979 PSAC champion baseball team.

7 p.m. — Fifth annual Industrial Arts/Technology Education (IA/TE) Alumni Society reception in the Booker Great Room, Kara Alumni House.

Also, President Armenti’s annual visit to the various fraternities, sororities and other organizations preparing floats for the Homecoming parade.

Saturday, Oct. 17:

10 a.m. — Royal Brunch, hosted by Cal U President Angelo Armenti, Jr. and First Lady Barbara Armenti, in the Performance Center.

11 a.m. —Unveiling of the new Vulcan sculpture created by artist Alan Cottrill of Zanesville, Ohio.

Noon — Homecoming parade with floats, marking bands and the Homecoming court. The march begins near Azorsky Hall, travels down Third Street, turns right on Union Street, returns to campus on Second Street and ends at the Kara Alumni House.

A tailgate party begins at Roadman Park immediately after the parade.

3:30 p.m. — Cal U Vulcan football (vs. Edinboro University) at Adamson Stadium.

“Hollywood Homecoming” is the theme for this year’s events.

Homecoming is sponsored by the University, the Student Association Inc. (SAI) and the Office of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving.

There will be “No Parking” along the parade Route starting at 09:00AM till after the Parade is over. Violators will be tagged starting at 9AM. So the parade can proceed along the parade route, cars parking along this route will be towed starting at 9:30AM

The parade route starts at the University and travels West on Third St to Union St.

Turns Right off of Third St onto Union St. and travels North on Union St toward Second St. At Second St., the parade route makes a right onto Second St. and proceeds back up toward campus.

Cal U President addresses parking concerns at convocation

By Lyle Dunn - for the Cal Times

California University President, Dr. Angelo Armenti Jr., addressed some concerns for the students and even announced the possible future of the University’s status in State funding.

Before the convocation, the University staff issued copies of an article from “The Chronicle of Higher Education,” which Dr. Armenti wrote about a year ago. It discussed the possibility of the state government having no budget ready for the state schools and how Cal U is being “privatized without a plan.” It is apparent that this decline in funding will not stop anytime soon unless the state government actually has some money for all the state schools, including Cal U.

However, the main concern for all students focused on one particular subject: Parking. It has been an issue since last Monday, when the Manderino, Hamer and River parking lots closed for construction. The Manderino lot will become a new parking garage while the Hamer lot will not have any parking, but will house the new convention center.

This school year marks the end of free parking. Next year, it will cost to park on campus.

Already, a lot of students are not happy about the situation and many will be stressed out over parking on campus.

Dr. Armenti did mention that there will be some new plans for parking available for students and they can use their Cal cards to pay for parking. The only problem is that every student attending CalU and also commutes will have to also pay for a new Cal card that is integrated into the system.

Dr. Armenti explained alternative locations for parking, such as Roadman Park, where shuttle services will be available for those students who park there. However, the new shuttle route has not been fully established due to the sudden change in parking on campus.

Although parking seemed to be the hot topic, students at the University also addressed other concerns. Some have had problems with the lack of available housing, especially freshman. Because of the increase in enrollment, this issue remains high on the list of concerns. It is not clear on whether or not the issue will be resolved anytime soon.

There are still some questions being raised around Cal U that have yet to be answered. When will the school have its state budget in hand? How will the parking situation be resolved without the inevitable headaches that students, faculty, and staff currently have? Is there going to be any resolve in housing? Answers are not available yet and only time will tell if any of these issues will subside.