My Speech To SGA: Act On Parking Before Semester's End

 

 

(Logo. Source: Student Government Association at UT-Tyler.)

The following is a copy of my speech to The Student Government Association at UT-Tyler on Nov. 14 during its Open Forum segment. You can listen to the speech audio on YouTube here.
….

Hello, Student Government. 


The semester is ending soon and you now have only two meetings left to take action on the issue of student parking. It is important that you do something to address this issue before the semester’s close or else students are going to return to campus next spring and find that their parking experience is the same as it was in the fall and that their student government has not acted to create meaningful improvement to their experience. As a result, I predict this could cause many students to lose faith in student government.


Therefore, I am here to remind you of your responsibility for this issue and to advise you on two next steps you can take now to act on this important issue before the semester ends. 


While there are many factors to the parking issue, the fundamental cause of distress is the lack of available parking spaces. Here are two questions you can take up both in your meeting tonight and in your final meeting on Nov. 28 to say that you at least have done something to pursue meaningful solutions to student parking this semester.


These two questions are: The price of parking citation fines and the volunteer faculty and staff parking shuttle. 


If you can try to take an official position on these two issues, then at least you can say that you have done something meaningful to find solutions to students’ dissatisfaction regarding campus parking. 


So I recommend you consider these two next steps. 


First, with the parking citation increase. Between now and Nov. 28, one of you (or two or four or eight) determine to contact Chief Medders and find out what he recommends the parking fine should be to deter unauthorized parking that takes up available parking spaces. Then, in this meeting today, in new business, discuss together how much of an increase you all would be comfortable supporting for the parking fine. It’s $35 now. Would you support an increase to $70? $90? $100? Or would you not support an increase at all. Either way, try to find out where you stand on the issue tonight in new business. 


Then, in the meantime between this meeting and next, ask your peers how much of an increase they would support to the parking fine so that you can understand how they feel before your next meeting. Then on Nov. 28, in that meeting vote on how much to raise the parking fine or not at all. Vote next week on the parking fine. This way you can say you did something to respond to student concerns. You can use your last meetings to address whether you think UT-Tyler Police should raise the parking fine to deter unauthorized parking. That is my first recommendation. 


My second recommendation is that you decide whether or not you want the administration to reinstate the volunteer faculty and staff remote parking shuttle program it ran in 2017. In that year, UT-Tyler Police ran a shuttle for faculty and staff who volunteered to park off-campus at Rose Heights Church on Old Omen Road. This remote parking shuttle program ran for the first two to three weeks of the semester. At that time, Chief Medders said that he had up 90 people ride the shuttle. 


This means that the program opened up roughly 90 on-campus parking spaces for students during that time. Chief Medders said that year the department did not get the number of complaints about unavailable parking as it had in the past and that he termed the program highly successful. So, with your limited time left in the semester, I offer that you all should decide how you feel about the program. You should vote on whether administration should reinstate the volunteer faculty and staff remote shuttle program for the coming spring semester. This is my second recommendation. 


These are my two suggestions: in your time left, take up the two questions of raising the parking citation fine and the faculty/staff shuttle program. 


Either way, whatever you decide to do, it is your responsibility to act for students. Please do not end the semester without having taken any meaningful action to improve students’ experience with campus parking. The responsibility for their concern lies with you. 


Thank you. 

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X: @Jhescock12

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