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CharlesS · Sep 9, 2006, 06:55 PM

Originally Posted by RGB

As for parking - we're only kicked out of the lots immediately around the Fieldhouse. Every other lot on or over the hill remains open during basketball games.

Yeah right. When I was there, the only place I was able to park during a game was all the way over at the Lied Center. Of course there's the dorm parking lots, but you can't use those if you live off campus. So here I was, working on KU's payroll, and if I happened to forget there was a ballgame on a particular day, I'd get charged an amount of money equal to what I made that day. They had a really nice racket going there with free labor, I'd say! So here I get out of work and it's barely 5:00, and here's a ticket on my windshield even though the game's not until 7:00 or 7:30, and there are no cars in the lot at all (thus: my car's presence for maybe 5-10 minutes after 5:00 wasn't creating a problem). And then I actually paid the damn ticket, and then later on after I'd graduated they claimed I hadn't paid it, and made me pay it again! Or they'd send a collection agency after me! Even though I'd already paid the damn fine. It's not enough - they want the money twice. They are a bunch of thieves. If I had to pick which is the most evil among A) Satan, B) Hitler, C) Osama bin Laden, and D) the KU Parking Department, well, it'd be a close call.

Dakar · Sep 9, 2006, 06:57 PM

God, how much was that fine!?

rickey939 · Sep 9, 2006, 07:37 PM

CharlesS, so you went to college at KU obviously then, right? What year did you graduate? Are you still in the Midwest?

CharlesS · Sep 9, 2006, 08:16 PM

Yep, graduated from KU in 2005. I'd rather not say where I live now.

rickey939 · Sep 9, 2006, 09:11 PM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

Yep, graduated from KU in 2005. I'd rather not say where I live now.

So are you a big KU sports fan at all? Big 12?

CharlesS · Sep 9, 2006, 09:17 PM

Nope, the whole parking thing made me slightly bitter about KU sports.

The fact that they do the same thing to profs even is what really set me off. Hello, what is the purpose of a university? Education. You can't have education without profs, right? Jeez, you'd think that if someone with a doctorate degree has been working for you for god knows how many years, you could at least give him/her some priority over some random fat-assed sports fan.

RGB · Sep 10, 2006, 03:34 PM

As for the dorm lots - after 4pm (maybe 5) they open up to anyone. You do not have to be a resident after this time. And they're completely open on weekends. All last season I parked in the lots on Daisy Hill and walked down to the fieldhouse for games.

And if I wanted to park closer to work at the newspaper on campus, I parked in the lot across the street from the Dole Center (not institute), right before the campus access booth. This lot was marked "Student / Faculty" during basketball games.

And the hundreds of spaces in the parking lots by Memorial Stadium are open during this time, too. Campus is open at this time as well, which means any parking spot up on Jayhawk Blvd is free for anyone.

I follow the posted signs when I park in a lot, and if it says the lot is reserved for an event at a certain time, I make sure my car isn't there. Parking isn't exactly convenient at KU (damn hill) but there are plenty of options.

College is about gaining a wealth of experiences, both in the classroom and out. And heck, college sports attract a lot of students to these colleges. I'm at KU instead of Ball State because I love college athletics and wanted to get a full college experience, not just the classroom experience. Not to mention the chance to live in Lawrence for a few years.

CharlesS · Sep 10, 2006, 03:44 PM

Originally Posted by RGB

As for the dorm lots - after 4pm (maybe 5) they open up to anyone. You do not have to be a resident after this time. And they're completely open on weekends. All last season I parked in the lots on Daisy Hill and walked down to the fieldhouse for games.

Those spots were always filled up even when there wasn't a ballgame going on. During a game, good luck.

And if I wanted to park closer to work at the newspaper on campus, I parked in the lot across the street from the Dole Center (not institute), right before the campus access booth. This lot was marked "Student / Faculty" during basketball games.

The Dole Center is even further away than the Lied Center is!

And the hundreds of spaces in the parking lots by Memorial Stadium are open during this time, too. Campus is open at this time as well, which means any parking spot up on Jayhawk Blvd is free for anyone.

Memorial Stadium?! That's even further away than the freaking Dole Center! I might as well have just walked from my apartment.

I follow the posted signs when I park in a lot, and if it says the lot is reserved for an event at a certain time, I make sure my car isn't there. Parking isn't exactly convenient at KU (damn hill) but there are plenty of options.

Yes, there are, if you arrive and see one of those signs:

Option #1: Be on time for work or school and eat a parking ticket

Option #2: Go park in a spot that's a 15-minute walk away, and show up 15 minutes late for work or school

College is about gaining a wealth of experiences, both in the classroom and out. And heck, college sports attract a lot of students to these colleges. I'm at KU instead of Ball State because I love college athletics and wanted to get a full college experience, not just the classroom experience. Not to mention the chance to live in Lawrence for a few years.

But why should sports be a priority over education?

Somewhere in Murphy Hall in KU there used to be a cartoon that a prof had taped to a door. It still might be there. It had a guy with some books and a graduation cap, sitting way in the back of a stadium. The caption said, "In the Cheap Seats".

That's pretty much the way it is with sports at KU.

RGB · Sep 10, 2006, 03:51 PM

Those spots were always filled up even when there wasn't a ballgame going on. During a game, good luck

Well, I never had a problem getting in there. Doubt there was much luck involved in that.

The Dole Center is even further away than the Lied Center is!

That's the Dole Institute. The Dole Center is on Sunnyside, about a two minute walk from the Rec Center lot.

Option #2: Go park in a spot that's a 15-minute walk away, and show up 15 minutes late for work or school

When you think there might be complications, leave a few minutes earlier?

But why should sports be a priority over education?

Seems like they coexist pretty well to me.

CharlesS · Sep 10, 2006, 04:07 PM

Originally Posted by RGB

Well, I never had a problem getting in there. Doubt there was much luck involved in that.

I lived in those dorms for three years, so I'm quite familiar with the parking problems there. If there was a game going on you basically had to park in the Lied Center lot.

That's the Dole Institute. The Dole Center is on Sunnyside, about a two minute walk from the Rec Center lot.

Ah, how big is that lot? If it's the size of the other "Student / Faculty" lots that were on campus, it'd be guaranteed to be filled up.

When you think there might be complications, leave a few minutes earlier?

And how the hell was I supposed to know if there'd be "complications" or not?

Seems like they coexist pretty well to me.

When a freaking prof ends up saying that he has to leave early because otherwise the parking nazis will tow his car, they're not coexisting very well.

RGB · Sep 10, 2006, 04:20 PM

And how the hell was I supposed to know if there'd be "complications" or not?

Read a newspaper, or check a sports schedule? 16,300 people don't end up in the fieldhouse at the same time on a whim. This information is posted.

Ah, how big is that lot? If it's the size of the other "Student / Faculty" lots that were on campus, it'd be guaranteed to be filled up.

At 4:30 when the lots by the Fieldhouse close up, this lot is virtually empty, because most students and faculty who occupied the lot earlier have left for the day. Real easy to take a few minutes and move your car over. I've often used this time as a quick dinner break before getting back to work.

Parking at KU is by no means pleasant. But it's also not as impossible as you make it out to be.

rickey939 · Sep 10, 2006, 07:17 PM

Parking at Bramlage Coliseum isn't all that bad.

CharlesS · Sep 10, 2006, 09:28 PM

Originally Posted by RGB

Read a newspaper, or check a sports schedule? 16,300 people don't end up in the fieldhouse at the same time on a whim. This information is posted.

Yeah, so now I'm supposed to waste time trying to keep up with the sports schedules. I don't care about sports.

At 4:30 when the lots by the Fieldhouse close up, this lot is virtually empty, because most students and faculty who occupied the lot earlier have left for the day. Real easy to take a few minutes and move your car over. I've often used this time as a quick dinner break before getting back to work.

I never had the luxury of going out to move the car at precisely 4:30, since I often had to work during that time. I had to have the car parked by whenever I had to show up for work (or classes, if the classes were right before that).

And quite often I'd come over much later than 4:30. All I remember is that there were some student/faculty lots, that it would be a miracle if they weren't already full, and that I always ended up parking at the Lied Center.

Parking at KU is by no means pleasant. But it's also not as impossible as you make it out to be.

Yes it is. It's the reason I quit driving and started riding a bike to get to and from campus. Hell, I don't even have a car anymore.

Of course, that opened up a whole other can of worms with all the idiot drivers who think they own the road. The irony of constantly getting yelled "SIDEWALK!" at just as I was passing that big "Share the Road" sign on Naismith Drive was infuriating.

There were a lot of nice things about Lawrence. The traffic/parking situation was definitely not one of them.

RGB · Sep 11, 2006, 02:15 AM

<---- Has never had to park at the Lied Center

There's always parking at Memorial Stadium, and because of the curve of Jayhawk Blvd, the walk isn't awful. What building were you in that made this impossible? Is your building close to Burge?

CharlesS · Sep 11, 2006, 04:03 AM

Murphy Hall.

I'm pretty sure the Lied is closer than Memorial Stadium. Plus, with the Lied, I only had to walk up the damn hill going one direction, as opposed to the stadium where it'd be uphill both ways.

rickey939 · Sep 11, 2006, 08:09 AM

Parking at the Bill Snyder Family Stadium isn't all that bad.

olePigeon · Sep 11, 2006, 08:18 PM

Would someone please think of the childre-

Oh.

RGB · Sep 11, 2006, 10:47 PM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

Murphy Hall.

I'm pretty sure the Lied is closer than Memorial Stadium. Plus, with the Lied, I only had to walk up the damn hill going one direction, as opposed to the stadium where it'd be uphill both ways.

Only an extra two minutes or so further than art and design (One of my two standard walks). Really not awful.

I actually missed the walk this summer, when I just parked in the lot right in front of my internship. There are worse ways to start a day on campus than walking up past the Campenille, overlooking Memorial Stadium, Potter Lake, and much of the rest of Lawrence. I find it quite refreshing.

To each his own.