By Tiffany Cullen
Jeff Smith, the commerce transportation and security manager with SCAD parking answers a few questions about the safety around campus and if the school’s parking spaces have been rented out to tourists.
It’s Tuesday morning, and Tara Henderson, a graduate student in the luxury and fashion management program, can’t find parking in the student lot. She will have to park at a meter, but doesn’t have enough change to last through class, which means a costly parking ticket to boot. Upon inspection, she notices few of the cars in the lot don’t bear the required SCAD parking stickers.
“I commute to class so I really depend on those parking lots being available,” Henderson said. “If I get there and the lot is full because other students have reached there first, that’s one thing, but if there are cars on the lot without stickers, that’s something very different.”
Henderson went on to say that “I’ve seen people park in the O-House lot near the Civic Center parking lot. In those situations, I really didn’t know who to call.”
A rumor started and spread that SCAD had rented out its parking lots to tourists over the break, but that rumor was quickly dispelled by school administrators when contacted by District.
Brian Taylor, an M.F.A. candidate in painting, said he doubted the truth of the rumor when he heard it.
“I really don’t think SCAD would rent out parking spaces to tourists or anything. We really don’t have anything to gain from it,” he said.
Both students reinforced that they needed a better line of communication and flow of information with parking services.
Security and Transportation Manager Jeff Smith confirmed to District the importance of students serving as the eyes and ears of SCAD.
He explained that in trying to be a good neighbor, SCAD allowed area schools to use SCAD parking lots to accommodate Civic Center overflow from their graduation ceremonies. Aside from this special occasion, however, vehicles without the proper parking stickers are prohibited from parking in the SCAD-owned lots.
To ensure students know what to do if they see a vehicle without a decal, Smith gave a short checklist of information to provide parking services:
- Get the vehicle’s tag number.
- Take note of the car’s make and model.
- Note in which lot the vehicle is parked.
- Call parking services at 912.525.7275 or e-mail Parking Services to report the vehicle.
