Empty complaints don’t help
Commentary by Kristina Iodice

People love to complain about anything. College students are anything but an exception to the rule, and the main complaint heard around campus hasn’t changed much for several decades. Not only that, but it seems to be the same at every college and university campus across the country.

The issue I’m talking about? Parking, plain and simple. But I’m not here to complain about parking (or lack thereof) on campus. I’m complaining about the complaining on the parking issue.

I’ll be honest. Almost all the complaints regarding parking seem to be a waste of words even when I didn’t have a car for two years. In the two years I have had a car, it is almost always parked in a coliseum row far, far away from Jarvis Hall. One can’t help but resent the six or seven-minute walk back and forth. It is too much of a walk. It ruins my day and hurts my feet. (Yes, that is sarcasm.)

So many people say there isn’t enough parking. Maybe it would be more accurate to say there isn’t enough convenient parking. I love being able to walk out the door five minutes before class starts and still be on time. I live on campus and I pay for the privilege. If I lived off campus, I’d plan to spend more time in the car and more time walking. It doesn’t make much sense to expect a front-row parking spot when arriving five or 10 minutes before the start of class or the start of the workday.

There isn’t an obvious way to add more convenient parking. I wouldn’t want a parking structure in front of the Student Center, or anywhere else near the center of campus, and everywhere else seems too far to walk for some people.

Of course, some people say safety is an issue when it comes to parking by the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, Amon Carter Stadium or Robert Carr Chapel. Some have even said that only females should be allowed to park on main campus. Never mind the near impossibility of enforcing such a rule, but how does limiting main campus parking according to sex help? (Is it just me, or does complaining about being viewed as the “weaker sex” and yet demanding differential treatment seem counterproductive?)
If safety is the concern, address additional lighting needs or the need for additional emergency phones in parking lots, not the fact that there are not enough spaces in front of every building.

Or try using what is already offered to students. I returned to campus at midnight Feb. 18, the day after the sexual assault off-campus. I called Froggie-Five-O, and they picked me up at my car. Although Froggie-Five-O only runs until 1 a.m., calling the same number after that time will get you a TCU police escort to or from your destination. If you’re not willing to occasionally wait for an escort, don’t complain about safety concerns.

Of course, there are valid complaints about parking. Some people have amazing luck in avoiding tickets and park in the 30-minute or visitor parking lot for days at a time without penalty. Some people aren’t so lucky and get a ticket after 30 minutes. Several residents in the Tom Brown/Pete Wright Residential Community have a valid grievance when faculty and staff park in the lot behind the apartments, since the lot is supposedly meant just for students.

Sometimes complaints can change things for the better, but don’t waste your time and the time of people within hearing range by complaining about things that you have no intention of trying to fix. Complain and offer feasible suggestions. Constructive criticism is helpful. Angry complaining doesn’t help anyone.

Kristina Iodice is a news-editorial journalism and English major from Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. She can be contacted at (k.k.iodice@student.tcu.edu).

credits

TCU Daily Skiff © 2002