Students, city officials discuss parking, traffic

By Dave Stephens
Assistant Campus Editor

The current traffic and parking problems facing Purdue University and West Lafayette were discussed at Thursday's Community Advisory Committee.

According to a report by the neighborhood life subcommittee, "Issues such as traffic pattern and flow, lack of parking (particularly on the north campus), and parking and safety in the residential areas need to be addressed."

One suggestion made by the committee was to decrease the availability of "C" parking permits, by increasing the mileage required to be eligible to park on campus.

"That was just one of the suggestions that we've heard from people," said Jan Mills, 2nd district city council representative for West Lafayette and the co-chair of the advisory board. "All of these are ideas that may lead to other ideas."

Mills also said increasing the mileage requirement needed for a "C" permit could lead to increased parking along the city's streets, making current parking problems worse.

Other suggestions made by the committee to reduce parking problems in West Lafayette include increasing the cost of parking fines, building commuter lots so that students can park and ride buses to campus and possibly building a pay parking garage on campus.

Also discussed by the advisory board was the problem of nuisance issues taking place in off-campus areas. Issues such as trash, noise and lawn maintenance were highlighted as areas of concern.

"There is sometimes a lack of communication between students and people in the community," said Gale Kvam, who presented the report on nuisance and behavior.

The report suggests starting neighborhood-student alliances for litter pickup, starting neighborhood patrols and increasing excise police visits to the area as a way to decrease delinquent behavior.

"The increased visits by the state excise police will probably not be an option, since they have limited resources," said Kvam.

Kvam said that many of the problems associated with students living in residential areas can be avoided by residents and students getting to know each other.

"I took the students who live next to me a plate of cookies," said Kvam. "It helped me get to know them and maybe showed them that people in this community do like having students around."

Wade Brown, Purdue Student Government's representative to the advisory board and a junior in the Schools of Engineering, said he is glad that student and community issues are being discussed.

"This will help bridge the gap, everybody lives in the same community, a lot of students think that everyone in the community is against them, but everybody I've talked to wants what's best for students," said Brown.

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Correction

CAMPUS DESK PHONE:
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Campus editor: Laura Pelner

Assistant campus editors: Kurt Esposito, Dave Stephens

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