Students speak their mind about the potential sale of the lower parking lot

By Julia Fuller

Arrive any later than 9:15 a.m. or 11:15 a.m. at City College by car and you’ll be circling the lot for parking.

Mid-morning classes are popular at most schools including City College. They are early enough in the day and still you don’t have to wake up too early.

The lower parking lot of City College, also known as the Balboa Reservoir, may be sold and turned into neighborhood housing. These potential changes would directly affect students’ daily activities at school.

“It just feels like it would be so crowded,” said City College student Gayle. “City College feels so spacious and I feel like that is how colleges should feel, having that space so I can park my car and be goal oriented in my day to day activities is what I want to do when I come here. I imagine they wouldn’t take affordable housing into account or have a simple way of constructing things. This might actually really crowd the college.”  

Additionally the already poor traffic and pedestrian system isn’t equipped to aid the amount of people using it and shrinking the space could increase parking lot hazards such as getting hit by a car and accidents.

“Nobody really parks there after a certain time of the day but I also only come two days a week from Marin,” sophomore Gaby Coronado said. “I arrange my classes so I avoid all the rush during the day.”

Conversely affordable housing could bring new potential students and raise enrollment adding to City College’s Ocean Campus.

Coronado believes students and faculty may not be affected by this at all since the lot is only used during peak hours.

“It’s really only packed down in that lower lot 2-3 hours out of the day,” said freshman Joey Chan. “Nevertheless, if they took it away it would mean serious traffic and lack of parking for people like me in the morning.”

A spacious campus de-stresses the morning rush and any change will affect students on all spectrums, local and commuting.