By Kassondra Granata

Lieutenant Christopher Cervoni believes that despite what some say, there is no problem with parking on campus.

“Not at all,” said Cervoni addressing the question of whether or not CCSU has a parking problem. “Since they built the Welte Garage, there hasn’t been an issue at all. We haven’t filled up since that garage was built.”

Cervoni said that each lot has a sign depicting when and where you can park and when you cannot park. Cervoni concentrated on the garages and lots, stating certain lots have more parking problems than others and result in a higher amount of tickets being given by police. Cervoni said that the lot with the most difficulty is Paul Manafort Lot, while all the other garages don’t always fill up or have as many problems.

Along with Manafort Lot, the parking lot next to the Willard and DiLoreto academic buildings along have the biggest ticket distribution, according to Cervoni.

“I don’t see an issue, we really haven’t changed on how many tickets we give out, it’s probably stayed consistent,” said Cervoni. “Manafort lot is the one that students try to park in during the day. Obviously we see more in the beginning of the semester than at the end, but if you get a ticket you won’t park there. There’s not a ticket issue.”

Cervoni said that CCSU doesn’t have a parking problem, mostly because of the significant amount of garages and parking areas on campus and the fact that none of them fill up to the point where there is nowhere to park.

“I don’t see any problem. Before the Welte Garage was built [in 2003], I would get a lot of calls and complaints, but I barely get any of those now,” said Cervoni. “At the beginning of each semester, you might get some complaints by those who are new here, but those die down.”

Some students say that the time a commuter student arrives on campus plays a large part in whether or not they’ll have trouble finding parking.

“Having early classes makes it easy to find a parking spot,” said freshman commuter Nicola DiBendetto. “I feel if you have classes later on there is limited parking due to the first classes of the day.”

Alex Wilson, a freshman and resident on campus, said that parking at CCSU has never really been a problem for him.

“There aren’t too many problems with parking,” said Wilson. “I wish there was more parking around the James lot and closer to the downhill dorms because it is hard to find parking where you want it. When that happens you just have to go to a different garage or parking lot. Overall, parking is fine.”

According to Cervoni, a reason for student frustration over parking might be the lack of motivation of students to walk from a garage to another, thus parking in the lots closest to their building or classes.

“Each semester we have at least one to two weeks where it is the most congested,” Cervoni said. “We survey each lot at certain times of the day and we don’t fill up on campus. It’s not close to your class, but there is parking.”

Breanna Fournier, a junior commuting to campus, also said she hasn’t found parking to be a problem but agrees that it’s more difficult to find a good spot depending on the time of the day.

“As a commuter, parking on campus doesn’t seem to be that difficult,” said Fournier. “There are definitely different times of the day where parking can be difficult, but you can always find parking.”

The CCSU Parking and Traffic Regulations Panel determine the parking regulations for campus and facilities of CCSU. The committee determines the state reserved parking policies, special events parking, responsibility and liability and the penalties for faulty parking.

The parking tickets that the committee determines ranges from $5 for not displaying a permit to $25 for irresponsible parking. Parking irresponsibly in a handicapped spot, however, gives you a penalty violation of $150.

One can pay their tickets within 10 days of obtaining the receipt of the violation by either mailing it to the cashier’s office or paying it directly to the office. If a ticket is not paid for, it can be forwarded to a collection agency or a hold on registration eligibility can be enacted.

The parking and traffic appeals committee meets monthly and consists of an elected member from each academic school, one administrator and two students, one being a commuter and resident.