Stuck in a Tough Spot

During her last semester at school, New Roads Senior Caroline Crain goes through the options to solve one of her biggest frustrations: parking.

I’ve been driving for the past two years, and while I’ve mastered most aspects of it, the one thing I’ve continually struggled with has been finding places to park. While I love the freedom of driving to school and being able to choose both when I arrive and when I leave, the parking problem has only gotten worse. New Roads, despite all of its virtues, doesn’t have space to provide parking for all of its students, so we are left to fend for ourselves. While there is a moderate amount of street parking around school, we are still stuck dealing with demons including surprise tow zones, pricey meters, and the devil incarnate: street cleaning. With the parking struggle relentlessly bothering both myself and many fellow students I decided to explore the different parking options available for a New Roads student, ranking them from worst to best.

5: The meters on Nebraska Ave. towards and past Blueys (25)

The meters are a lot for me to stomach, and they always have been. They’re priced at a steep $1.25 per hour, and with my 7 hour day at school, that adds up to $8.75, which is something that the cheapskate that I am has a hard time processing. The only time I ever park here is on Thursdays, aka street cleaning day, aka the-bane-of-my-existence day. Street Cleaning means that most of the free street parking is off limits between the hours of 12-3, so options are limited. While there are the rare street cleaning-proof locations, I have a late start on Thursdays, and they are all gone by the time I arrive at 8:45, but if you’re lucky enough, there is metered parking just outside the back gate; so while they’re expensive, these meters are the most convenient spots one can possibly park in, which is worth it to some people.

The meters on Nebraska extend all the way to Stanford, which is where I had to park on one particular Thursday.

4: Centinela Ave. between Nebraska Ave. and Olympic Blvd.

The only good feature about the Centinela spots is that they are, unlike the meters, free. The biggest drawback is that they are not the shortest walk from school, and you have to survive the gauntlet of awkward looks with fellow students as you walk past them and their friends sitting in their cars parked on Nebraska. These spots are typically still available past 8, so they’re a great option for a late start day. They, like most of the locations on this list, are also affected by street cleaning. And while the other side of the street used to have street cleaning on Fridays, solving my weekly Thursday struggle, you are no longer allowed to park on that side of the street. You do need to be a good parallel parker, and I have many times watched Senior Zaraya Jordan try to park here without the use of backup cameras, which is an impressive feat in and of itself. 

The spots on Centinela between Nebraska and Olympic may be free, but they involve a bit of a hike to campus.

3: Stanford Street

I have to be honest, I didn’t even know you could park here. This was the day that I ventured to the south side of campus just to see if there was a parking option there, which I soon realized there was not, and by the time I returned to the area north of campus, all of my usual free spots were taken. I saw someone who looked like they might be a New Roads parent turning up Stanford, so I decided to give it a shot. It’s free, but far, and there’s a sketchy RV that somehow always seems to be there (even in the Google Earth image that was taken of the area God knows how long ago). You do pass Blueys on your way to and from school, which I did take advantage of and go to on my way home, and there’s a stop sign at that intersection on Nebraska, so you can cross the street without fear of death-by-carpool-moms. 

Stanford Street, sketchy RV and all.

2: Berkeley St. between Pennsylvania and Nebraska

This is where I initially parked when I first started coming to New Roads, so it holds a very special place in my heart. The parking is both free and unaffected by street cleaning, which makes it the first runner up in the parking space race. It’s also not a very far walk, especially if you’re parked at the end of the street closest to school. You do need to be a good parallel parker, especially since the employees of the building right next to it are not the most considerate parkers when it comes to leaving enough space. Additionally, unlike Stanford, there isn’t a stop sign at that intersection with Nebraska, so you do run the risk of becoming roadkill on your way to your morning class.

The parking on Berkeley is free, but the neighbors are space hogs.

In Memoriam: The Alley

I’d like to interrupt this ranking to ask for a moment of silence for our fallen friend, the alley, which has very recently become a tow away zone. Gone, but never forgotten. 

The Alley: RIP

1: Nebraska between Centinela and campus

This is the best place to park, and no arguments will be heard. It’s free, it’s immune to the plague that is Thursday street cleaning, and it’s head in parking. Depending on how close you are to Centinela, it can be a bit of a walk, and if you’re leaving right as school gets out it can be a bit tricky to pull out of the spot. It is always full by 8, but that’s for a reason. This is and always will be my favorite place to park. 

Nebraska: the Holy Grail of parking spaces