Traffic concerns are at the top of the list for some Butler-Tarkington residents when it comes to the construction of a possible parking facility.

Butler University officials presented a proposal for the facility to the neighborhood association on Monday evening.

Ben Hunter, chief of staff, and Rich Michal, executive director of facilities, introduced the preliminary design to a room of about 20 board members and residents.

Local residents expressed concerns with the plan, which ranged from environmental issues to traffic flow.

One Butler-Tarkington resident said her concern is the traffic flow during construction and Hinkle events.

“I do agree that the parking structure is overdue,” she said, “but my immediate concern is the traffic flow on Sunset Avenue and whether or not it will pour into the side streets where I live.”

Hunter explained how priorities have changed for the university’s parking concerns.

“The original plan for a parking structure was very long term,” Hunter said, “and we want to make it a short-term plan.”

The planned parking structure could be located behind the Schrott Center on the current Clowes Hall parking lot.

Sunset Avenue would remain open because that road is much too populated to ever consider being closed, Michal said.

“The only way that would ever be closed would be temporarily for street-scape construction and creating a boulevard feel with green space in between traffic flow,” Michal said.

Both Hunter and Michal also said the plan has not yet been approved, but they hope the Board of Trustees will do so in the next few months.

The facility could add 1,000 parking spots, about 300 beds and potential retail space.

Jeremy Stewart, neighborhood association president, previously told The Collegian that his main concern was street parking near campus.

“The important thing is mostly getting concentrated parking,” he said. “If students have a spot they can park, it’s going to help neighbors keep people out of their yards.”

“Best-case scenario, the garage will be a 12-month build time,” Michal said.

If all goes as planned, the structure could be finished by August 2014.

If Butler University builds a parking structure as discussed, it will not solve the parking problem as it currently exists.

The Collegian’s analysis of information provided by Ben Hunter, executive director of public safety, shows that as many as 850 current permit holders would have no place to park if Butler proceeds with plans to build the garage and beautify campus.

At last week’s Student Government Association meeting, President Jim Danko said he hopes to move some cars out of the area near Sunset Avenue and 46th Street and into the hypothetical parking garage or other undetermined spaces, to make way for a plan to beautify campus entryways.

The addition of bike lanes could benefit Butler University in a myriad of ways.

Creating bike lanes would improve the safety of everyone’s commute.

Adding these lanes would give cyclers a place to safely ride their bikes without having to weave between the walkers on the sidewalk or traffic on the street.

“The reason I get delayed is because I have to wait for people walking,” junior Thomas Brueggemann said.

“It will keep bikers away from regular pedestrians,” he said, “I almost clip someone every day.”

People can walk knowing that the possibility of a biker clipping them or running them down from behind is negligible.

This change to Butler’s infrastructure would also ease campus vehicular traffic.

Bike lanes would save drivers the frustration of knowing that they won’t have to be slowed down by someone riding a bike at a turtle’s pace.

They would also prevent drivers from worrying about colliding with cyclists.

The safety of bike lanes might encourage people to casually cycle on campus more often.

“If you have bike lanes, it would make you want to use your bike more,” freshman Matt Scheetz said.

Knowing that they can safely pedal to campus, more students might be inclined to ride their bikes instead of driving their cars, reducing the urgency of the parking issue on campus.

By reducing the demand for parking, a greater number of parking spaces would be available.

All these potentially beneficial outcomes make creating bike lanes an obvious choice.

Not to mention there are health and environmental impacts to constructing the bike lanes, such as reduced car emissions and increased student exercise.

They are a win for everyone on campus, from students to administrators.

Pedestrians can safely walk, cars can drive at a normal pace and bikers can have their own lane to ride in without any worries.

The university could also cash in on this opportunity through the new bike share program.

The bike lanes could increase the popularity of renting bikes from the Health and Recreation Complex, thus making a profit for the university.

Ultimately, the construction of bike lanes benefits everyone on campus and is an option that should be explored.

Administrators must find a temporary way to ease the parking problem on campus.

This parking issue especially affects those who live in the Apartment Village, University Terrace, or have to walk a great distance to and from classes.

The lack of parking spaces close to the majority of the academic halls for those who own HV or C decals creates an issue.

There has to be somewhere on campus near the academic buildings that students who live further away can park.

So far this year, the weather has been nice.

But once the air becomes nippier and nastier, driving can become a downright necessity.

If a light snow or heavy shower passes through, classes won’t be canceled, and students will still be required to attend those classes.

A 20 minute walk to class seems  a lot longer than it really is in cold weather and it can have a negative impact on students’ health.

The long walks could not only cause students to catch illnesses, but also could lead to injuries.

A thin layer of ice is enough for someone to fall and severely hurt themselves.

Some students who have a previous injury may not be able to easily walk a long way across campus or ride a bike.

Another option has to be made available for those who physically can’t make the walk or bike ride.

By tweaking the current policy, some of these issues could be resolved.

The university could allow more street parking near campus.

Also, all residential halls and apartment complexes could share parking, allowing AV and UT residents to park on campus when needed.

In an extreme case, a bus could be employed to drive students to campus—similar to the one Student Government Association provides to take students from campus to Broad Ripple.

The current policy is also slightly contradictory.

After 10 days the ticket price will increase according to the text on the parking tickets.

But student accounts say the price will remain at $25 even after the 10-day period delineated by the ticket.

Students should not be held accountable for not understanding the terms if neither student accounts nor Butler University Police Department can work out the terms of the parking tickets.

Another issue is the money the university makes from ticketing.

The Collegian reported last November in “Parking Revenue brings in nearly $370,000” that BUPD made $104,290 in parking tickets during the 2010-11 school year.

As the student body grows, Butler is making more and more money from parking tickets.

This raises the question if solutions are drifting out slowly because tickets bring in extra money for the university.

Also, as the student body increases every year, the university needs to put more urgency on solving the parking issue in the present instead of just waiting for a parking garage to be constructed.

I know students have made the long walks to class in the past but improving a flawed system is never a bad thing.

Administration has been working over the past few years to find better solutions, but a solution must be created to address the problem here and now.

With a number of Butler University’s visitor parking lots under construction, Speech and Language Clinic patients were put in a bind last week.

Construction outside Atherton Union left the patients without sports in their normal lot.

The only visitor parking lots not under construction are located across from the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, across from Robertson Hall and on Donor Plaza across from Gallahue Hall. The clinic is  in Jordan Hall.

Ben Hunter chief of staff and executive director of public safety, responded and took on the task of resolving the issue.

“Hunter really understood the problem and wanted to be receptive and welcoming to our guests who are on campus,” Clinic Director Ann Bioldeau said.

Bilodeau brought up the concern for client parking and had a response and solution from Hunter 24 hours later.

Bilodeau said she will ask parking services for a preset number of Butler handicap parking placards for the semester and will distribute them to the patients.

Patients with this decal can park in the handicap spots located right outside the Fairbanks Building, which are the closest spots to the clinic.

“This request was very reasonable, and it really won’t affect capacity,” Hunter said.  “These clients are supporting the academic mission of the institution by supporting our students.”

The clinic provides upperclassmen from the  communication sciences and disorders program the opportunity to work directly with 10 clients this year.

The clients are two Butler students, two elderly patients and six children.   The non-Butler patients pay $200 per semester for once-a-week treatments.

“In the past, we’ve had people struggle a little bit to get to the clinic,” said Suzanne Reading, communication sciences and disorders program director. “If you’re 90 or have small children, it’s not so easy to get to the clinic.”

Butler added handicap parking spaces over the summer, including three new spots in front of  the Fairbanks Center, which should make things easier for clients.

“We need to be as welcoming as we can be with these clients and continue to service their needs,” Bilodeau said. “We have a long tradition of doing that.”

Hunter said he wants to work with parking services to create a special map for clients, highlighting the area that they will be allowed to park in.

“We have full capacity (to accommodate), so to me, it’s a no-brainer solution,” Hunter said.

Overall, Reading said she is pleased with Bilodeau’s request for client support and the overall accommodating nature of the university.

“I have praise for Bilodeau,” Reading said, “and thanks for the people that helped.”

Approximately 1,100 first-year students poured onto Butler University’s campus Saturday to begin their studies.

The record-breaking freshman class comes with plenty of potential, vibrancy and energy.

Still, the ever-expanding enrollment could end up forcing administrators to cut corners in facilities, infrastructure and student life.

Graphic by Heather Iwinski

Housing, parking and budget allocations have all caused strife on campus in years past, so it is crucial that administrators take a look at how expansion could impact our university.

Recently, it seems that university officials have been optimistic about the university’s future.

Vice President for Student Affairs Levester Johnson was optimistic about Butler’s buckling capacity and the university’s ability to handle it.

The university has been getting bigger and bigger over the years and each time, he said, administrators have found extra beds, allotted more parking spaces and scheduled more courses.

The university has swiftly dealt with the enrollment issue when it has come up.

In 2010, when the entering class was record-size, school administrators made the necessary changes to ensure that everyone had a place to live on campus.

While Butler technically might not be facing a housing crisis, there is no doubt we are closing in on the inability to house all  students.

Total occupancy numbers for non-Greek housing, including all the residential halls, University Terrace and Apartment Village, sum up to more than 2,000.

Thus, the 1,111 first-year students alone will use around half of the non-Greek campus housing.

Although a new residence hall—along with expansions to existing ones—are in the master plan, there is no concrete timeline for these additions yet.

Similarly, construction of a parking garage is in the works, which would surely alleviate the parking crunch Butler students and faculty face now.

But there are still too many questions that have gone unanswered about the parking solution.

The location, cost, timeline and logistics for a parking garage are still up in the air until final proposals make their way into the hands of Ben Hunter, chief of staff and executive director of public safety.

The small-school vibe is part of Butler’s appeal. If Butler continues to expand, it’s important that administrators consider how to maintain that caring atmosphere.

The New Student Success Task Force, a committee formed from various campus groups, has been planning ways to ensure all students continue having positive Butler experiences.

An administrative goal is to keep class sizes relatively small by creating more course opportunities, thus preventing a shortage of classes and faculty, Johnson said.

In the end, the coalition tacked on a few courses and hours.

By examining just these  concerns, it becomes apparent that the administration does not have clear answers.

While the potential parking garage will eventually mitigate traffic issues, it does nothing to fix the problem unless it’s planned soon.

Although more course hours and opportunities were added in order to control class sizes, those same tactics may not work when more students enroll in the coming years.

Real, sustainable solutions need to be created in the next few years to match the ever-mounting interest and enrollment at Butler.

Otherwise, actual housing, parking, infrastructure and financial crises could be imminent.

More students than just seniors need to be allowed to live off campus.

More parking spaces or a parking garage must be built and a cap must be placed on the number of parking permits allotted.

Improvements must be made to the academic buildings.

More faculty and staff must be hired to balance the student-to- faculty ratio.

And all of this must happen soon.

While this unprecedented number of new students gives the campus much to be excited about—a new sense of life—growth should be coupled with solid ideas about Butler’s future in order to sustain the current level of expansion.

On July 24, Butler students received a brief email on the Butler Connection detailing an increased price of parking decals from $60 to $75.

Although this larger price tag might leave a sour taste in students’ mouths, the extra money will go toward feasible, positive changes.

The message alluded to “new parking-related software,” which left the question of what exactly will be improved.

Butler students can rest assured that this new software is a legitimate improvement.

Among the greatest changes for the citation software is a system that may result in fewer parking citations for students and faculty.

“We wanted to be more green and intuitive with our parking systems,” said Ben Hunter, chief of staff and executive director of public safety.

Currently, the citation system relies on paper.

It also cannot recognize students and faculty living in the nearby Butler-Tarkington neighborhood.

Any faculty, student or member of the Butler community who parks in the neighborhood could be ticketed due to the parameters of the 1989 local agreement with the Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association.

This creates a substantial problem for students and faculty living in the area.

If people from the Butler community park on the street in front of their house, they are liable for a citation.

Now with the advent of the new software, Butler community members can opt for the free Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association permit.

“This is a tool to reduce the frustration of seeing a green envelope on your windshield,” Hunter said.

Basically, the permit allows people who live in the Tarkington neighborhood to park on the street without fearing a citation.

Of course, there is a slight drawback.

Those who use the BTNA permit can no longer park on campus.

Still, it isn’t too terrible a trade-off considering most of the houses within the neighborhood are a couple blocks from campus.

Even better, within a year, the new system could let those living in the neighborhood park there without the BTNA permit by flagging and recognizing the “do not ticket” cars.

The exact results of this experiment won’t be known for a couple months.

Still, this innovation in the citation system is commendable.

In the midst of rising tuition and fees, shelling out extra money for a parking decal is not so palatable.

But should these new citation systems prevent other students and faculty from seeing that dreaded green envelope, then it’s an extra cost worth taking on.

Parking Enforcement Officer Aaron Chalmers may be the most misunderstood man on campus.

The feeling of dread elicited by a tiny green slip of paper on the windshield of a car is familiar to many Butler University students with cars on campus.

With parking enforcement officer Aaron Chalmers on duty, parking tickets are sure to find their way under the windshield wipers of vehicles in violation of parking restrictions.
While Chalmers has been cast as the man who doles out endless parking tickets, the man outside his parking pick-up truck tells quite a different story.

Q:   Describe your experience in parking enforcement here at Butler.
A:   I’ve been working as the parking enforcement officer for about 10 or 11 years.  I’ve been at Butler for 20 years.  I’ve worked as a dispatcher, police officer and security officer.  I’ve held about every position.  I got out of college and was looking for a job, and I ended up staying at college.  You guys stay the same age, and I just keep getting older and older.
Q:   How do you feel writing out tickets to students who probably don’t appreciate it?
A:   I don’t really think about it anymore.  I mean, when I first started, I felt pretty bad about it.  No one wants to be seen as the evil guy.  Now I hate to say that you get cold to it, but you really do.  I’ve repeated the action so many times that I’ve stopped thinking about it.

Q:   What is the funniest excuse you’ve heard to try to escape getting a ticket?
A:  I had a girl try to tell me that she never brings her car to campus, so she didn’t understand the parking.  She had run out of time on the parking meter.  That is pretty standard everywhere, not just at Butler.  I’ve heard about every story there is, so I can usually finish every excuse before it’s started.  Just be honest with me.

Q:   How do students react to instances where they walk up to you while you are writing the ticket?
A:  Well, there’s a whole lot of everything.  It happens daily.  Some argue, some beg, some just take the ticket.  I don’t want to give them a ticket any more than they want one.  If you don’t hand them out to violators, you lose control of the campus.

Q:  What are some of the weirdest places students have parked?
A:   Nothing immediately comes to mind as being really out of the ordinary.  I’ve never seen a car on top of a building or anything.  One year, some guys from one of the fraternity houses tried to park their truck on top of a large snow bank.  It got stuck, and they had to call a tow truck to come haul them out.  I guess they didn’t realize that snow can’t hold 8,000 pounds.

Q:  Have you ever gotten a parking ticket?
A:  Yes, I have.  I can’t remember the exact instances.  It was probably when I was about 16 or 17, so it was a couple years ago.  Well, I’m exaggerating on the “couple years ago” part.  I think I had let the parking meter expire.  I wasn’t really upset about it.  The police officers were just doing their job like every other person.  Like I am now.

Even in the midst of midterm- exam season, mumbled curses and nervous breakdowns on Butler University’s campus are likely to occur when someone has a parking drama.

Despite a deficit of 1,412 parking spaces and growing concern in the community, Butler’s administration still has taken little visible major action to bridge this gap constructively.

The actions they have taken have only increased the tensions over this situation, such as the towing of Lambda Chi Alpha members’ cars and the debate over the parking spots near Phi Delta Theta.

Instead of these complicated schemes and punishments that don’t re-envision Butler’s parking situation, The Collegian calls on Butler’s administration to form a clear solution, and soon.

A parking garage could be constructed, and not in the long term when the situation only worsens as more students come to Butler with cars in tow.

Since other buildings such as the Howard L. Schrott Center for the Performing and Visual Arts  are being built and other renovations are planned, a moderately sized parking garage built in the near future could make the situation more manageable.

The $12,000 per space price tag of  structured parking will be expensive, but it will be the best option. It will keep the city off of Butler’s back when it looks to develop further, and it will make students, faculty and staff content.

Another drastic but effective move? Freshman parking could be prohibited, clearing many of these 1,412 non-existent parking spots. Eliminating freshman resident parking permits, while controversial, would create some breathing room for faculty, staff, and students who have greater transit needs.

Student parking pass prices could be raised substantially, reducing the desire for parking passes. This proposal will keep people who only use their cars casually from wanting a pass.

Administrative funding could also bolster programs already set up, such as the Student Government Association-sponsored shuttle system. By improving these programs, the administration will improve the parking situation while supporting community ideas, which would be good for public relations.

The community recognizes a parking issue and has solutions to resolve the issue. Any of these ideas, if used by the administration, would alleviate the parking crisis. The problem here is not a lack of ideas or communication from the community but a lack of major action.

Butler simply needs the administration, with its power and funding, to take the reins and construct a solution like it is supposed to do.

While any administrative solution will be met with controversy, a substantial one will ultimately be a sigh of relief compared to the well-intentioned yet unhelpful resolutions the administration has started.

Yes, some of these solutions will be costly and understandably difficult to complete. But it is time for the administration to admit, yes, we have a parking problem, and it needs to be fixed soon.

Hayleigh Colombo | Editor in Chief | hcolombo@butler.edu
Ryan Lovelace | Staff Writer | rlovelac@butler.edu

A city board’s vote on Jan. 11 to expand Butler University’s parking plan effectively brought to a screeching halt a long-standing dispute between the university and the Phi Delta Theta Foundation.

Since 2009, the two parties have clashed over who controls 22 perpendicular parking spaces adjacent to Phi Delta Theta on Clarendon Road.

The Indianapolis Board of Public Works’ 4-1 vote on Resolution 1, 2012, gives the university control over those parking spaces, as well as spaces along a stretch of Sunset Avenue.

Butler’s position is that the new deal allows it to remain compliant with a decades-old legal agreement. The fraternity foundation says it has had years of “bad blood” with Butler and that the university is using the parking capacity issue as a means of control over the spaces.

At the root of the argument is a parking shortage on the Butler campus.

The Collegian previously reported in “Faculty, staff, students left with permit, no parking” (Aug. 31, 2011) that the university issued 3,997 parking permits last year but that there only are 2,585 designated spots on campus, leaving 1,412 permit-holding drivers without a spot.

Even though the number of parking spaces in question on Clarendon Road amounts to less than 1 percent of the university’s current capacity, the two parties have not been able to agree about who should have the right to park in them.

This particular stretch of spaces is located within the city right-of-way, meaning that the city of Indianapolis regulates all activities conducted on it, regardless of who owns it. Until the recent Board of Public Works vote, the parking spaces were considered open parking spaces for the community.

The Phi Delta Theta Foundation maintains that it owns the property but recognizes the city’s control of it. The foundation applied for an encroachment license in 2011 for control over the spaces, but it was eventually denied by the city.

As for Butler?

“We know we don’t own it,” Ben Hunter, chief of staff and director of public safety, said. “That’s between the city and the foundation.”

Hunter said the university has tried to resolve the issue.

“We’ve worked with their counsel, with their attorneys,” Hunter said. “We could not come to an agreement.”

Ronald Reed, chairman of the Phi Delta Theta Foundation, said that members of the foundation have met with Hunter in the past to resolve the issue.

“We would love to have the university support us,” Reed said. “I’m a reasonable man, but I’ve reached my limit.”

The Butler Tarkington Neighborhood Association comes from a more neutral spot.

“It’s not that we’d prefer [that Butler control them],” Jeremy Stewart, neighborhood association president, said. “Butler and Phi Delta Theta could work out an agreement, but they don’t seem to want to do that. The ultimate thing is that we just need them designated.”

Butler parking signs were installed along the road yesterday, per the city’s resolution.

The spaces will be designated as “Greek parking” spaces.

Compelling Reasons for Control
Butler has a “compelling” reason to control the property: a 1989 legal agreement between the university and the Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association.

The Collegian reported in “Before Butler grows, officials will answer to neighborhood” (Sept. 7) that the agreement requires that the university enforce permit rules against parking on neighborhood streets and holds the university responsible for providing adequate parking for the Butler community, specifically mentioning Greek students.

It also gives the neighborhood association the right to remonstrate, or protest, new projects.

Without the Clarendon Road spaces in the parking plan, Hunter said the fear was that someone could protest against the university for going against the 1989 agreement.

Stewart said including the spaces in Butler’s parking plan “helps to further control the parking along campus.”

He also said it was a means of giving Butler the right to ticket non-Greek students who park there.

Phi Delta Theta has its reasons for wanting control over the spaces, too.

When its chapter was reinstated at Butler in 2009 after a seven-year hiatus, the foundation said it promised designated parking spots as a perk for prospective pledges.

“To say that parking is important to me is an understatement,” Reed said. “That’s the only way I could compete. It became a recruiting tool.”

While the fraternity wasn’t able to hold up that deal, Reed said he didn’t mind the spaces being open parking for the community because it allowed Phi Delta Theta alumni to park there without hassle.

In the Past
In 1997, Butler paid for the $61,319 renovation of the 22 adjacent spaces, as well as spaces in Phi Delta Theta’s back parking lot.

The staff report from the Department of Metropolitan Development said that the combined renovation would yield a total of 64 parking spaces for Butler students.

Reed said that Butler subsequently paid Phi Delta Theta $300 per space during the next few years that was to be applied against the cost of the project.

The Board of Public Works originally granted Butler permission to add city streets on its parking map in a 2010 resolution.

Hunter said it was a mutual decision between Phi Delta Theta and the university not to include Clarendon in the plan at that time.

“I felt it was in the best interest for the university to work with the organization on their concerns, so I did not include [it] at that time,” Hunter said of the decision.

Reed said he believes the university didn’t include the street in the plan originally because Butler knew the foundation would remonstrate against it.

Nathan Sheets, Board of Public Works member, argued for the resolution to pass at the July 14, 2010 meeting.

“The majority of the roads that are included in this proposal are essentially the property of the university,” the meeting minutes attributed Sheets as saying.

In 2011 the university withdrew its proposal to include Clarendon Road in its parking map from the consideration of the Board of Public Works.

Moving Forward
Reed recently created an online petition against the updated parking plan.

It currently has garnered 55 signatures.

Reed said he plans to take that petition before the neighborhood association at its next meeting.