The campus of the University of Toledo is rarely as packed as it is now, in the opening weeks of the Fall semester. Between classes, hallways of UT buildings are at their most crowded before that certain unmotivated sector of the student body either stops coming to class or drops their classes altogether. The Centennial Mall similarly is teeming with students lounging on the grass or eating outside the Student Union building while the weather is beautiful, sunny and warm. But perhaps congestion on campus is most notable to those students, faculty members, administrators and staffers who commute around or to campus is the scarcity of parking.
This concern is, of course, an annual one, voiced every year by this publication and by most everyone who doesn't reside in a campus residence hall. But UT is now uniquely poised to solve the issue … until the next time UT's enrollment jumps significantly, anyways.
This has become a particular issue this semester with freshmen commuter parking, as special lots had to be designated in order to accommodate the sizable incoming class this year. A solution might not be too far away, though.
As unfortunate as the murder of Matthew Dugan at the BP gas station at the corner of Dorr St. and Secor Road was last month, this university is now in a stronger position than ever to purchase that land and the land surrounding it. UT would of course have to separately reach a deal with the neighboring Taco Bell and Charter Bank to purchase the property they occupy, but with the land UT could build a lot for freshmen commuter parking. A parking garage there wouldn't put freshmen near the heart of campus, but it would put them closer to it than the current temporary sites at Nitchke Hall or the Scott Park Campus. They would also be close to Rocket Hall - the site of the University of Toledo Learning Collaborative - where all first-year student initiatives will now be housed.
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