By: Rachel Burke
Student Parking has been slowly disintegrating since last year. Due to construction, the little parking lot Argo does own is now being used by staff. The big parking lot the students used to use is really owned by the VFW. According to Argo Dean Nicole Wasko, there was not a contract with the VFW but a “verbal agreement” that Argo students to use their lot.
There was a conflict during first semester where the VFW “just started towing people,” says Ms. Wasko. Argo had no prior knowledge that this was going to happen, which is why when it did the deans ran out to the lot to prevent any more cars from being towed. When questioned about why the cars were towed in the first place, Ms. Wasko stated that they were looking to sell the venue and did not want the parking lot to be littered with cars when they showed it off to potential buyers. This caused the student parking lot to be cut in half.
After this incident, the requirements to receive a parking permit became more selective. While the requirements used to be no out of school suspensions, passing all classes, and a senior priority, they added on requirements of less than five absences, less than five disciplinary punishments, only seniors, and even all of those applicants were pooled into a lottery. Ms. Wasko had 42 applicants that met the requirements and 40 available spots on December 19th.
After a meeting with administration it became known that the VFW had sold the property. Thats when letters started going out and panic started going up. There is now no student parking available for second semester and years to come if nothing is done about this.
This poses a big problem for working students who typically go to work directly from school, and also has caused concern for students who are also responsible for getting their younger siblings to school. While this is a very difficult predicament that Ms. Wasko and the rest of the deans understand, as of right now there is nothing Argo can do. They are still looking for solutions for these students with extenuating circumstances, but currently the space is too limited.
