Students know well that finding a parking space in the Breslin commuter lot is like waging war. But, this war might actually not be a problem with the lot itself and rather students’ attitudes.
Although most classes are held on the academic side of campus, the problem may be that students do not want to park in other lots around campus.
Junior Stephanie Ross commutes to Hofstra from Bethpage and has faced parking problems.
“I think parking on the south side of campus needs improvement,” said Ross. “The spots are too small and the students don’t know how to park correctly. I recently just got hit on campus. I was parked and I noticed I had a dent on my back left bumper. I didn’t see who did it.”
Ross suggested an increase in the number of Public Safety officers patrolling the parking lots and the addition of more parking spots.
However, according to John O’Malley, Associate Director of Public Safety Operations, this is an improvement from four years ago, before there was a commuter designated parking lot.
“Prior to that it was general parking for everybody,” O’Malley said. “We buy up houses and turn them into parking lots.”
O’Malley said that plans are always discussed to figure out a way of adding additional parking on campus.
Vinny Bellissimo, senior commuter from Seaford, witnessed reckless driving in Hofstra parking lots. He recently avoided an accident in Breslin when a car sped around him as he pulled into a spot.
“I’ve only been able to park there [Breslin] when I had an 8 a.m. class freshman year,” said Bellissimo. “Every other time I’ve had class, like 9:30 a.m., [there were] no spots. But I don’t mind walking from all the way on the other side by the field hockey field. I’ll park there and I’ll walk across the Unispan, [it’s] no big deal.”
Students would like to see an improvement with the way the parking lots are now. Lana Zuaiter, a junior resident, listens to her commuter friends talk about the lack of spaces.
“Maybe they could reconstruct lots to make more room,” said Zuaiter. “They definitely need bigger spaces or more proportional spaces.”
However, O’Malley suggested that the parking problem is actually spillover from a completely different issue on campus. He suggests that the parking problem is actually the students’ fault, not the facilities.
“We are always looking to improve them [parking lots],” said O’Malley. “Most of the problem with parking here is that people don’t want to walk. There is not a parking problem here, there is a walking problem.”
