Parking at Lasell has been a big problem this year. WIth the construction taking up a large portion of the Central Parking Lot, and satellite classroom trailers located on Grove and Maple Lots, parking has been almost impossible for residents, commuters, and employees.
Last year, Lasell College announced most resident students would have to park off campus, leaving the available parking lots for employees and commuter students. What seemed like a brilliant plan to administration did not have a positive reaction from residents. With only three parking lots off campus, residents were furious.
This fall, parking became a mess. The parking lots for employees and commuters seem to be empty in parts of campus, but the streets surrounding campus are lined with cars. Streets without parking restrictions are filled with cars, primarily closer to the new academic trailers. Resident students hope to get a spot on those roads to avoid a ticket from the city of Newton. Some roads are restricted for part of the morning and part of the evening, but every time in between are lined with cars.
The residents of Newton are becoming upset with this parking loophole. Roads are now more narrow, especially on roads like Cheswick, where drivers can park on both sides.
“An ambulance tried to get to someone on Cheswick Road and it could not fit down the road,” said the parking director, Pam Faria. Lasell College has been sending out at least one weekly email restating the parking rules and urging students and faculty to park in their designated lots.
Resident students have four parking lots available, one being on-campus North Garage, two MBTA T-stops, and one MBTA Commuter Rail station. The T-stops, Woodland and Riverside, are a walkable distance from campus that most students already know the walk to, often walking there to go into Boston. The campus shuttle also stopped at Riverside, so shuttle riders know where it is located. The commuter rail station, however, is in West Newton, a place unfamiliar to most residents. It was difficult to find at first, but after figuring out a quicker way, it is not far from campus. Yet, it is still not a walkable distance.
“It’s upsetting to walk out of Rockwell Hall to see the parking lot empty. None of the employees park there,” said Kelsey Hagan, a junior resident student.
Michele Canestro, also a junior resident, is frustrated with not having a space on campus.
“For my major, I am required to go to clinical every day. Because I am parking off campus, I am often late to clinical, which is unprofessional and I could miss a lot of learning opportunities,” said Canestro.
Amanda Aucoin, a junior commuter, understands residents’ pain. “As a commuter I feel that parking on campus is fine, but I can see the frustration for resident students,” she said. “Most commuters are gone before five. Students who live on campus should be able to park from five to midnight on Monday through Thursday and keep the weekend parking the same.”
Due to the off-campus parking, a new shuttle route and system was added to help the students parking at these locations. The shuttle does a loop to every parking lot, and one stop on each side of campus. The students parking in the West Newton lot heavily rely on the shuttle, when the other students don’t need to rely on it so often. While the new shuttle system comes with a new shuttle tracker with estimated arrival times and new drivers, the shuttle is still rumored to be unreliable. Faria says she is working closely with VPNE to improve the experience. However, that’s another story.
Even though it is more desirable to park on campus, whether it be on the streets of Newton or Lasell lots, students should park off-campus, or in their assigned parking lots. Not only does it make the roads more narrow, it can be dangerous in the case of an emergency. The residents of Newton also do not want the cars blocking their driveways or mailboxes.
Remember, anyone with a Lasell sticker can park anywhere on campus between five p.m. Friday until five p.m. Sunday.