The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

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Letter to the editor

Dear Sundial,

I very much appreciated your op-ed pieces on parking.

May I suggest that you do a follow-up article regarding ways to improve the situation?

Each new parking space in a structure that the university has to build costs $16,000 to $18,000. The B3 parking structure construction cost was $21 million.

These projects are bond-funded, which to some extent reduces the university’s ability to bond for other projects.

Can you think of something better to do with $21 million?

If that money was available, the new science building could have been six stories high or one-third bigger.

After all, what’s a parking structure but a monument to the automobile? And we all know internal combustion type cars are becoming obsolete – by 2030 we hope – and the only thing you can do with a parking structure is to park cars in it and it can’t be converted to housing, office space, or other uses.

How can CSUN improve the situation? Go on Google and type in “Transportation Demand Management” and you will see that there are many ways to address the issue.

There’s the possibility for vanpools and carpools, and incentives could be established for using other types of transportation. People who ride bicycles to campus could get a free locker in the gym or preferential class registration. Those who use a motorcycle could park for free.

A little bit of economics 101 regarding the price elasticity of demand and we understand that when the price of a commodity like car parking goes up, people look for a substitute for that commodity. It’s in everyone’s best interest to find substitutes for building more car parking spaces.

Best Regards,

Anonymous

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