By Reanna Fogelman
TAMPA, Fla.– The Grand Center is a 10-story multifunctional facility with five higher stories that house nearly 700 first-year students. Construction began in 2022 and was finalized by August 2024.
The University of Tampa has four parking garages on the campus, including Delaware Avenue, Rick Thomas, West, and now Grand Center. The Delaware Parking Garage was completed in October 2021, and 437 additional parking spaces are available. Rick Thomas was built in November 2013, providing 300 spots. West Garage has 1,584 spots. The Grand Center has 441 parking spaces—two floors for commuters and two floors for faculty and staff.
Parking can be difficult for students, causing people to be late. Hundreds of students circle each floor to find parking every day. This drives students into frustration as they hope they’ll get an ideal spot before class begins.
Parking problems can increase stress levels and make a part of being at college a less enjoyable time, especially when you have to circle around multiple times. Students have expressed being late to their classes and also not being able to make it to their class at all because of parking on campus.
Recently, an installation of a gate and scanning of IDs for students and faculty was installed at the Grand Center parking garage to enforce the entering and exiting of traffic within the garage. This was put into play to reduce excess cars into the garage.
Does this help enforce traffic in a good or bad way? How do students and faculty feel about this installment?
Kevin Howell, executive director of Campus Safety, said, “The gates were installed as part of the ongoing parking and access to lots/garages that exist already on campus. The gates restrict access to the garage in this case and limit it to approved UTampa community members.”
Howell thinks it’s necessary for this to be a persistent method.
“IDs are programmed based on UTampa registered vehicles,” Howell said. “If a vehicle is not registered on campus according to the university parking regulations, then a card will not work. The decision is made during planning, so the President mostly and (Dr. V at that time) his design team.”
Howell believes this is who planned the idea of the installation.
“We see slight delays in many of the lots and garages due to a high volume of inbound-outbound traffic normally,” he said. “It does, however, clear on its own within a reasonable time.”
“I was annoyed because I didn’t have my card, so I had to back up and cause traffic,” said Ally Athanas, senior in advertising and public relations.
Athanas does not like the restrictions within the IDs and the new access to the garage.
“I was late to class because of it,” Athanas said. “I did not hear about this before it was installed, but then I checked my email and after the fact, they did say it was now installed.”
Other students have different perspectives on the matter.
“[I feel] pretty positive since it’s more parking on campus and in an area close to the library and business school which were previously lacking that,” said Andrew VanWinkle, junior in marketing at UTampa.
VanWinkle thought that the installation was necessary.
“I believe so because plenty of times students will walk continuously across the entrance which holds up cars from flowing through,” VanWinkle said. “I’ve seen first hand people have trouble with the gate itself too which backs up cars entering.”
Vanwinkle believes this will make students late to class.
“I don’t know if students were told about this initiation. I didn’t see this in my emails,” he said.