Being set in the middle of a south Lincoln neighborhood, Southeast has always had an ongoing parking problem, causing continual conflict between students and neighbors. Remedying this situation has proven difficult. If only to worsen the ever-present C-lot overcrowding issue, Southeast put in place a modified and stricter parking policy at the beginning of second semester. During second quarter of last semester, Southeast had been informed by the Lincoln Police Department (LPD) that they were not allowed to ticket cars that don’t have an A-lot parking permit because it was an invasion of privacy. In response, Southeast decided that they would first administer a warning and then tow cars without a permit out of A-lot. Personally, I believe that this new policy is excessive and unnecessary.

Senior Jeremy Young has experienced the repercussions of the policy first hand. Young’s mother works for the federal government, and therefore, has not been paid for the past 25 days due to the Government Shutdown that started Dec. 22. As a result of this, last week, on Jan. 7, Young had to pay his family’s electricity bill. Then, on Friday, Jan. 11, Young received the dreaded bright yellow slip of paper, saying that his car had been towed out of A-lot. Although he had been warned, Young had not been able to pay off his personal fines in order to gain the permit.

“When I got my car off the towing lot, it was $148,” Young said. Because he had to pay the electricity bill, there was no way this would be affordable for him.
Young then called his mother and asked her if she would be able to transfer the money to his account. She reluctantly said yes, telling him that it would be a struggle, but provided  the money for him to take his car off the lot. As a result, the family was left without groceries for the entirety of this week.

Now, in my opinion, forcing a teenager to pay almost $150 to simply get their car off of a towing lot is ridiculous. What average 17-year-old, working a minimum-wage job, has that kind of money to spare? Personally, after paying for gas, food and social events, there are some days when I don’t have $150 in my account. I cannot even imagine what it is like to have to pay for my own electricity bill in addition to that.

On another note, I am a junior and therefore, required to park in our very small C-lot. I have done this all year, following the original policy without complaint. However, some of my fellow juniors have not, and now that most of the juniors and some of the sophomores are being smashed into one lot, I (as well as the others who have parked in C-lot consistently) am not guaranteed a spot there in the mornings. On the first day of the policy, I arrived at school at 7:29 a.m. – mind you, this is 30 minutes early to school – and was left to park on a side street, all of which have “No Parking” signs lining the sidewalks. This strains the school’s relations with neighbors, but what else are we to do?
As all of the juniors and sophomores make the walk down from C-lot, they can see the half-empty A-lot sitting there, just waiting to be filled. In my opinion, A-lot should be reserved for upperclassmen, but it should be first come, first serve, as C-lot is now. I would argue that permits don’t need to be given out and are ultimately unfair. This is because some seniors don’t have a second or third period, but yet, are still being given guaranteed parking spots when those spots could be given to junior Shirettes, who have 6 a.m. practices, or students with a normal schedule.

I believe there can be major adjustments made to the parking policy we have at Southeast. Because we are one of only a few high schools built in the middle of a neighborhood, we have to work around that, of course, but I think this is an issue that will eventually be solved with cooperation from everyone.