THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 27, 1997 TAG: 9701250004
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 34 lines
Mayor Paul Fraim and Norfolk City Council want to bring people back downtown. They think that a community-college campus will be a great way to do it. So after a long struggle and many financial battles, a campus was born.
I like the new campus. It's a beautiful way to recycle old buildings and at the same time preserve the look and feel of old downtown. It is inspiring landlords and many new tenants to give it another try. But many of us students are adults returning to school to get a better education. We struggle to make ends meet, and then we get hit with parking fees.
For years, night students did not have to pay. Now Norfolk has decided that it needs to make amends and hit the night students with parking fees. It's bad enough to have to pay, but with the ``discount'' tickets that we use, it can take up to 45 minutes to get out of the lot. That's right; when four or five classes get out at the same time, the tie-up reminds you of New York at rush hour.
We need to find a better and long-term solution. Old Dominion and Norfolk State both have decal-controlled parking. This is only a temporary solution to the problem.
The College Place development which has just been announced will be built on the parking lots that we students are told to use. It's not slated to be completed until 1999, with only enough parking for owners and tenants. That leaves the students out in the cold.
Norfolk, get a clue. I can park at the three other campuses for free, and they are not all that inconvenient.
CLAUDE A. SMITH JR.
Norfolk, Jan. 15, 1997