To Park or Not to Park?

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Mark Scott, Editor-in-Chief, Football Beat Writer

North Lot is often thought of as the ideal place to park on Chaminade’s Campus.  One man begs to differ.

 

Parking in North Lot is a double-edged sword.

North Lot mornings are what make parking in North the “privilege” that it is thought to be by many. The walk from North is much shorter and pleasant than the treacherous Weber Walk (especially during the colder winter mornings), also there seems to be a close-knit community of guys in North, strictly based on the fact that we all park in the same lot. But these luxuries come at a price.

Picture this… it’s 2:55 on a Friday. You just threw open the North Atrium doors and as you pass by Scott’s office you envision the wonderful things that come with the weekend. This walk is especially lovely as you don’t have rugby practice on Fridays and you truly have nothing that you have to do. Hanging out with friends (socially distanced of course), rest, lack of responsibilities, video games, you name it. The world is yours. You visualize the cheat meal you are about to demolish as you have spent all week eating healthy, to get that spring break bod. Canes? Freddy’s? Chick Fil A? The choices are endless.

Then you get into your car, connect to the Bluetooth and throw on some tasty licks. Just as you’re about to back up out of your parking spot you throw the shades on. Look up into your rear-view mirror and WHAM. Range Rovers, Escalades, and Chevy Tahoe’s as far as the eye can see. You are the latest victim of the Chaminade Mom Pick Up Lane Crisis.

Gray House Captain Adam Cunningham offered his own words on the North Lot dilemma.

“Every generation faces their great catastrophes. Whether it be a great world war, a global economic depression, a famine, or the great terror of mothers clogging the parking lot, we all have our battles,” said Cunningham. “This agony will not end, so we, as north lotters, must learn to live with it.”

Fresh of the 1 o’clock Pilates class at Lifetime Fitness, the Chaminade mothers will be damned if they aren’t there on time to pick up their babies. This endless line ranges from in front of the Skip, wraps around the south atrium and Main Office, then curves at Juergens, continuing past the Athletictron. To put the cherry on top the lines always seems to end right in front of the #63 spot in North Lot — A.K.A Mark Scott’s parking spot.

With no Chaminade Moms, the drive from my parking spot to the stoplight in front of Chaminade usually takes around a minute or less. I have seen days where it had taken me north of 20 minutes to complete this same trip due to the Mother Blockade being thrown into the mix. Every second of an 18-year- old’s weekend is precious, and it is extremely frustrating to waste the first 20 minutes of this weekend waiting in bumper-to-bumper as a Lululemon-clad mom with a Shitzu-Doodle on her lap leans out the window of her GMC Denali and chats with the parking lot supervisor right in front of you.

To be proactive with the situation at hand, I have a solution to this issue. First I would go to Mr. Vlahutin and voice my concerns about the situation and see how interested he would be in helping fix this conundrum. Next, with Mr. Vlahutin, I would craft up a non-aggressive (no matter how bad I mean want to let it out) email that would allow the mothers of these fine Chaminade Gentlemen to walk a mile in my moccasins. With the help of the administration I would then develop a plan that would create more of a flow in the pickup line. This plan would consist of two main changes that I think could mean the difference for us North Lotters.

First, it would mean developing a two-lane system in the act of exiting the parking lot. The left lane “the fast lane” being for people trying to get past the line and on with their lives, and the right lane being for people in the pickup line. This would make the line much more efficient.

The second would be asking Our Lady of Pillar if we could have access to their lot simply for exiting. This of course would depend on the time that the children at Pillar are let out, as I doubt that the school would be very happy with a bunch of high schoolers driving through a parking lot full of children. A couple of Flat Stanleys is probably the last thing they need.

Realistically I will do nothing about this issue and rather just complain about it like I have done all year.