Gravel parking lot loses popularity

Last year, students had no complaints about parking in the gravel. Now there are a few issues because students no longer want to park there. Some say that it’s not paved, it’s far away, and the students are paying just as much as the people with paved spots.

¨I think it’s stupid because the gravel is not paved and it’s a super far walk so why should we have to pay $25 now, but nothing has changed,¨ said sophomore Savannah Brasher.

The gravel was probably one of the most popular spots out of all the parking last year. Now few cars park there.

¨I feel like they are just wanting more money, but in reality, they have probably spent more money on putting all the parking blocks in because now barely anyone parks there,¨ said junior Kaleb Madden.

Students wonder why they are now charged to park in the gravel lot.

¨Why do I have to pay for the gravel parking lot if every time I pull my car in it gets all dirty?¨ Madden said.

Last year students simply lined up in rows with no restrictions on space. Now, the gravel lot spaces are striped and have parking blocks. They are very small compared to the other parking lots. The parking lots that are paved measured a little over 10 ft, but the gravel measured just over 9 ft so it’s not much of a difference. Still a noticeable chance though, because the parking lot is much smaller in size.

¨The gravel parking lot is very small; there is not enough room for cars to park, especially with the little space you have between each parking block. Another problem is you can’t see the line to park your car because of the gravel,¨ junior Shenica Smith said.

There are no cameras in the gravel parking lot which could potentially cause problems.

¨If there is a car wreck or an accident there is no proof to figure out what really happened and people could lie about it or just not say anything to the person if they hit someone’s car,¨ said senior Jaylynn Renfroe.

Administration cites the problems that occurred last year as motivation for the changes.

¨The gravel parking lot has caused a number of problems over the last few years,”  assistant principal John Crabb said. “The biggest problem we had was people just pulling in and parking and blocking people in.¨

While there has been a lot of complaining about the gravel parking lot among all the students, Crabb says that they have not received official complaints in the office.

¨Nobody has come to the office and complained about it, so I’m sure there are people mad about it, but we haven’t heard anything, and like I said, it’s not trying to get extra money, it’s just trying to clean up to where we are not calling kids out of class,¨ Crabb said.