All good things must come to an end....

So it seems that this journey to become an expert blogger has come to an end. Throughout this class I was exposed to so many new technologies that have helped me to develop my blog from a general page to a now high tech page. I started this blog out of the frustration with ODU's parking on campus, but it has evolved into so much more. After doing research on so many other blogs about parking I have learned that this is the perfect channel to not just blast frustrations but to create a solution that works for everyone. With this blog I was able to propose new ideas and be able to receive feedback from others who either agreed or disagreed. I have learned so much not just through my "investigative" journalism, but also through talking to other people and being able to blog to share it with the world. It has been such a great learning experience to see how one small idea has blossomed into a whole new world of digital journalism that I will be able to carry with me into the professional work of Public Relations!!

#5 Red-Whitehurst

The fifth and final stop is the parkingg lot for Whitehurst that is located off of Powhattan ave. This lot actaully looks over whitehurst beach, so you can sit in your car and relax while looking at the beach. This lot is extremely large and accomodates all the residents for Whitehurst and Powhattan. There is no problem finding spots and there is adequate lighting in the lot.

#4 Blue-Powhattan

The fourth stop is the parking lot located on the corner of 48th street and Powhattan Ave. This lost is shared between the freshmen residents of Whitehurst dorm and Powhattan apartments. This lot is fairly small so it is a first come, first serve basis. However this can be a long walk to Whitehurst dorm, so I would reccomend that you park in the Whitehurst lot and leave these spaces for the Powhattan residents.

#3 Purple-Quads

The third stop is the Quad parking garage that is located on the corner of 43rd and Elkhorn Ave. This is unique to all the other ones because this one is a garage, not a lot. Due to all of the construction that is around the quads, the residents are to park here on certain floors. The thing to remember is that you must enter on Elkhorn Ave, the entrance on 43rd street is for commuters only.

#2 Green-Gresham Lot

The 2nd stop is Gresham parking lot this is located on 49th street, a little past Rogers. This lot is used solely for the residents of the Gresham dorm, so you don't have to worry about communters taking your spots. Now this lot is seperated in two, on both sides of the Gresham Main building.This lot is extremely smaller than the Rogers lot, so in most cases you might have to park in Rogers.

#1 Yellow-Rogers

The first stop on the tour of "Freshmen Parking" is the Rogers Parking lot. This lot is actually a 2-part lot. The first part is located on Hampton Blvd, where this part is shared by commuters and employees of WHRO. The second part of the lot is located on 49th street, and is solely for the residents. This parking lot is important because anyone with a decal can park here...this is important if you stay in a dorm that does not have a cafeteria, you can drive to Rogers and park in this lot.

A Good Park is Hard to Find...

View A Good Park is Hard to Find... in a larger map

If You Ain't First...You're Last!!

My biggest pet peeve is when you are in the parking lot searching for a spot and then as you see the golden spot, someone comes out of no where and parks there! I have a horror story that inspired this blog post...I wanted to go see the new gym and it was way to hot for me to walk across campus. So i decided to drive over to the parking lot is on the corner of 49th and Powhattan Ave. These are mostly reseverd spots, however there are a couple spots that are free to park with decals. So as I drive through the lot the first time there are no spots, then i see someone walking to their car. I drive all the way around the parking lot to get back over there. As I am coming around the corrner i see the spot right there....then out of nowhere this red truck pulls into the spot!!! Then to make matters worse, he decides to pull out and back in! I was pissed...i mean i was right there...it was almost my spot...but i guess almost doesnt count where there is more people than parking spots on campus! Ricky Bobby said it best..."If you aint first, then your last." I was last that day!

Where there's a will theres a way...

Today on another one of my daily adventures to find a parking spot in my parking lot, I actually figured out a system! I found that you have to time this out perfectly...you cant just expect to pull into the parking lot at anytime and there will be free spaces. The first time is in the morning between 8 and 9am. This the time when the overnight guests are leaving so they won't get parking tickets. Also between 12 and 2pm this the time when people are going out for lunch or usually getting out of class and going to lunch. Finally between the times of 9 and 11 this is the time when people are leaving to go out for the night. However you can't wait for too long because this is also the time when overnight guests are coming and taking spots.

WHY???....

So I have yet another frustration with Old Dominion University parking services. Not only do I have to deal with the daily struggle of actually finding a parking spot, but now I have to deal with major roads being blocked off due to events held at the Ted Constant Center. Now I understand that when the shows are Kid oriented it is not safe for cars to be zooming by, but that is what the traffic cops are there for to stop traffic while the children cross. However for some strange reason ODU decides to block off the entire streets, causing us drivers to have to drive all the way around just to get to our buildings. At first it doesn't seem like a big deal to have a road blocked off until you realized that it causes more traffic, not that Hampton Blvd needs any more. Hopefully ODU parking services will realize that blocking off these streets are not worth it, because they ultimately cause more problems. Not to mention that when they block off these streets they are also blocking access to two parking garages. Which once again causes parking problems. It becomes a domino effect for people who are trying to park in the limited spaces that we have.

A prime parking spot is a prized thing

"When you're in a car pool group, you have your own reserved spot. Not even the president has his own reserved spot."

According to an article on Insider Higher Ed, parking on college campuses have become a bigger issue than officials could have ever imagined. Several colleges have tried tp fix this problem by reserving spaces for car pooling and even eco-friendly cars; however some people think that they are taking this too far.

For three years Augsburg College, in Minneapolis had created a car pooling service where there were reserved spots located on the edge of campus. There wasn't a big demand until officials decided to move the reserved spots into the middle of campus. There was a drastic change from one to five in just the fall. John Pack, Augsburg’s director of public safety stated, “We know from what the car-poolers have told us that moving those reserved spots to the heart of campus, and adding that convenience factor, has been a big draw.”

While changes haven’t been drastic, a number of colleges have put in place small numbers of “car pool only” or “hybrid only” parking spots to encourage greener driving habits . De Anza College, a two-year institution in California, has reserved 13 for alternative fuel vehicles, which must have a factory insignia declaring them hybrid, bio-diesel, or electric vehicle. Also Western Michigan University has 15 spots for alternative fuel vehicles by its College of Health and Human Services.

Colleges' policies on parking, of course, have been just a small piece of their overall efforts to encourage more eco-friendly habits.

Get it together

So in reference to my theme about the parking situations on campus at ODU, I ran into another reoccurring problem in the parking lot of the Village Apartments. The entrance gate had been broken once again! It seems that on an average of once a week someone breaks the gate, so you can just drive in, instead of having to swipe your card to open it. This leads to anyone being able to park in the lot, which takes away from the people who actually paid to park there.

Especially since this particular lot between 43rd st and 45th st is located behind most of the shops in Monarch way, a lot of the patrons can easily park there. Especially at night when they are going to the bar Boar's Nest. This is another concern for safety, since anyone can park in the lot there is no telling who these people are. Since there have been several incidents recently which attacks on ODU students, I would think that campus security would be doing everything in their power to keep areas safe. Having the parking gate broken could be seen as an invitation to strangers to come onto our campus. Or letting anyone be able to park in the parking lot, taking the spots that students with decals paid for.

An Hour or Less...and it's FREE!

It seems that the City of Norfolk has been clued in onto one of the hot spots of free parking on campus. 43rd street at the corner of Killam Ave. has always been free parking, until the other day. I walked out and saw that they had posted new signs stating that this was now "1 hour parking"...which i was confused about why it was not 2 hours, but that's another story. Normally there would be at least 20 to 30 cars parked along this street, so I was very interested on seeing how they felt about this.

The first person i came across was a sophomore named Chris, who was a commuter. He said that he parked on that street because he refused to buy the ridiculously high priced parking decal. He also thought that it was not fair that people who are only part-time students don't have a special area where they can park for cheap.

The second person I interviewed was a senior named Ashley, who was a resident of the Village Apartments. She said she parked on that street instead of buying a decal mainly because it was convenient. She didn't see the purpose of paying all the money for a decal when there was free parking next to her building. She seemed sad that the street was no longer free and was contemplating on whether or not she was going to buy a decal or just look for another free street.

It will be interesting to see how other students are going to react to this new parking restriction. However, there is one thing that I am sure of, Norfolk will be giving out a lot of tickets to those students who don't recognize that their "hot spot" is gone.

The Grass is NOT Always Greener on the Other Side....

My frustration with ODU's parking actually became a positive for me this weekend when I went to go visit my friend at GMU. They have it way worse that we do with their parking. Not only do their decals cost almost double what ours cost, you are not even guaranteed a parking decal!! That is crazy. Then the parking lots are spread around the campus, but not even near the dorms....you have to park in the lot and either walk about a mile OR catch the shuttle bus to your building. I could NOT image having to catch a shuttle from my car to my dorm. This visit actually gave me an appreciation for ODU's parking BUT does not mean that I am in no way happy with the parking situation...

Same idea...different problem!

In response to my frustration of inadequate parking at ODU, I found a guy who blogged on the Global Awareness Blog website about having TOO MANY parking lots and the effects of it.

Well, at least in Indiana’s Tippiecanoe County … parking lots outnumber people nearly three to one. In fact, for its 155,000 residents - this little county in the Midwest has 355,000 parking lots.

So, what is this post doing in a global warming awareness blog? Simple - parking lots aren’t as innocent as they seem. In fact, once you read below, you will find out just how much of a havoc these things can cause to our environment.

His viewpoints are a concern with Global Warming, which I completely agree wit, and just how much damage is done to the enviornment when a parking lot is made. However with a surplus of parking there should be nothing to complain about. Here at ODU with have a deficit of parking lots, pretty much the opposite with 3 people per 1 parking space. It's pretty much a luck of the draw if you are going to get a parking spot anywhere near you have to go. I like how he gave a solution that would benefit both the environment and the people. Yet,I wonder if he was refering to actual parking lots or parking garages?! ...something to think about!!

Solid as a "Rock"

Walking around Old Dominion University's campus you notice the main things, like the buildings, the trees, the big monarch fountain; however we forget to stop and notice the simple things. Well that was what I had to do for our scavenger hunt. After being at this place for 4 years I thought I knew just about every nook and cranny of this campus, yet it took me a while to location this place. I was familiar with the location of the place, but when I got there I was stumped. I saw the trees, the leaves scattered everywhere, the pathways all leading to different directions. Then I noticed a big rock, something I have passed almost every single day for 4 years but never took the time to stop and look at it. It had a bunch of writing on it, which meant that I would have to actually stand in front of it while people were trying to walk around me to get to class. Kind of embarrassing! It was actually a pretty cool rock, it has all the names of the fraternities and the sororities with their founding years on it. It seems like this should be a part of ODU history, something that should be shown on campus tours for future greek members!!

Who I am...

Being a senior at ODU is bittersweet! The only thing stopping me from *GRADUATION* is not going to class...not because I choose to skip class, but because I can never find a parking spot. By the time I find a spot, my class is basically over. The sad part is that I live on campus, i'm not even a commuter. Everytime I leave the parking spot, I say a little prayer that I will be able to find a spot when I return. You would think that with all the millions that ODU receives that parking would be a priority so that students can actually attend class, however I guess they never got that memo.