In a previous article I explained “How Student Parking Limitations Linked to Eco Harm”. The greatest harm being the unnecessary turning on/off of commercial vehicles in between classes. Much of this has been blamed on the unavailability for student parking for Antioch students. However, I did not speak about the potential changes we the students can begin to address the responsibility and TAKE ACTION!
WE NEED TO BUILD A TEAM
Antioch students along with the surrounding schools such as: Brook’s Institute, Paul Mitchell School, Santa Barbara Business College, and Santa Barbara City College need to become a team. By developing a strong group of student supporters with guidance from administration leaders, the issue can begin to become a priority.
WE NEED TO CREATE A PLAN
Presenting alternative solutions to this problem, we can further along the action process. Instead of creating complaints, our energy can be spent creating positive and logical plans. Jacqueline Oliviera a teacher at Antioch has asked students to begin developing solutions for this issue. Joined by fellow classmates here are some of the ideas we came up with:
Plan 1) Allow registered students of downtown schools to park for a rate of $0.50 per hour with a student validation. The administration of each school would agree to regulate the validation process to assure that the system was only utilized by the registered students.
Plan 2) Antioch Student bus pass. For those student’s without vehicles or those student’s looking for alternative transportation to reduce expenses would benefit from this plan. To ensure the city of Santa Barbara that the downtown students are sincerely presenting this plan to ease the financial burden associated with their education, this program would be contingent on the MTD granting the downtown schools to participate in the student ID/bus pass program that UCSB, SBCC, and The Brooks Institute already participate in.
WE NEED TO BE THE CHANGE
Downtown parking is a source of revenue for Santa Barbara. We need to be prepared that our plans may not be approved and the city may not be able to afford changing the current parking limits. Therefore Antioch’s students need to be mindful that if we cannot change parking availability, it does not excuse the fact that we are still a part of an environmental problem. Additionally, the parking situation at AUSB can cause disruptions to a student’s education through financial hardship and classroom interruptions. Students need to continue to work together with the university to develop plans to acquire funds by other means that the city may not have to place towards these plans. The collaboration of students and faculty, we should begin to see the school willing to focus on this issue, for the benefit of their student’s educational experience. Until changes can be implemented students should reduce their personal contribution by reducing their use of personal vehicles.
Special Thanks to Donald Burdick, Courtney Salviolo, Maria Flores, And Daniel Vasquez for helping create the “Antioch Student Parking Changes for Environmental Protection Proposal”.
