The new parking lot has clearly affected the greater part of the University of La Verne community in positive ways and has opened a door for further improvement. For this year’s softball team, however, it has altered the routine of previous seasons.
At the end of the first two weeks of the spring semester, something seemed drastically different in comparison to previous semesters.
Every school day since my return to the hard life of books and classes, I have been able to find a parking space rather quickly. So far, the hassle of roaming the campus for 10 minutes or more seems to be a thing of the past.
The completion of the now functional parking lot, south of the Supertents, has eased, though not solved, the parking epidemic throughout the campus.
The 91-space lot, which includes four handicap spots, took the place of the softball field, which could no longer be used to host NCAA competition because the dimensions failed to meet regulation.
Now, since the school has put forth the effort to produce such an accomplishment, a little more effort should be placed to make a proposal to the city government to repave First Street, the street that allows access to the parking lot.
Since students and staff mainly used Third, B and C streets in the past to commute to and from the school, the problems of First Street could and have been overlooked. Now that First Street is more utilized by the ULV community, the countless number of pot holes and the fact that the street itself is two feet in width should lead to reconstruction.
Turning the corner from First Street to B Street with a vehicle traveling the opposite direction is a little frightening. The thought of an accident converts from being a possibility to an expectation.
However, most if not all of the students undoubtedly appreciate the new lot, but how about the softball members themselves?
The players, who at one point could walk from class to the field in less than five minutes, now have to drive to a new home field.
It may be labeled as their home field, but doesn’t change the fact that the field, which is located at Wheeler Park on the corner of Wheeler Avenue and Arrow Highway, is owned by the city and open to the public. Since absolutely anyone can use the field, that takes away from this home-field mentality.
“The new field has two pitcher’s mounds. One for [ULV] and one for the little league teams that use the field,” said senior designated hitter Jennifer Thompson. “The field is used by all of these people, but yet it’s supposed to be our field.”
Not only the team, but the students and faculty members also had the convenience of stopping by the softball field between classes to give the team support. It is important that people now make the effort to go support the team.
The 2000 season has not yet begun aside from practice, but has already had many problems.
Practices have been delayed for the installment of grass. At times, the team could not utilize the entire field because a tractor remained in the outfield. Aside from that, fertilizer also kept the squad from using parts of the outfield.
This column is not designed to get the field back on campus since the possibility to do so is very slim. It is to show sympathy for the players and coaches involved.
The University is expanding and, ultimately, features must be altered to adapt to the number of students attending. Bottom line is that the additional lot has aided our parking problem.
Damien Alarcon, a senior journalism major, is editor in chief of the Campus Times. He can be reached by e-mail at alarcond@ulv.edu.
