Post Classifieds
Proposed parking solutions considered
By Michael Canfield
On October 10, 2012
When President Aaron Podolefsky delivered his State of the College address in September, one of the
main issues he focused on was parking, outlining several ideas to make it easier at Buffalo State.
A parking committee has been formed to address and eventually implement some of the President's
ideas, assuming they make sense for the school, said Michael LeVine, vice president for Finance and
Management.
"We're not very far along," LeVine said. "We don't have any solutions yet."
Podolefsky outlined several ideas in the address, including a way to count cars that enter and exit a
parking lot, with the number of spots open in the lot displayed on signs, on websites and on phone apps.
He also spoke about the possibility of using electric, low-emission buses to take students, faculty and
staff from the lots on the outer edges of campus to their respective destinations.
"When I used to drive to the Kansas City airport, there was a sign that told you how many spaces were
open in each parking lot," he said in his address. "There are companies that can do that and put the data
on a phone app, on a website or on signs. I want to do this for our big distant lots and encourage people
to go right there rather than cruise the campus."
The first step, LeVine said, is looking at what has been done in the past, what has worked and what
hasn't.
"Right now, we're looking at the master plan," he said. "Once I have a picture of all of the things that
have been done, we'll talk about solutions."
The committee has brainstormed possible solutions, looking at what other urban campuses have done,
LeVine said.
"Some will work, some will not," he said.
Some of the ideas the committee has come up with include the use of food trucks based in M-Lot and
possibly G-Lot, which would provide students with the opportunity to grab coffee and breakfast on the
way to class. Other ideas include a carpool lot, which would incentivize carpooling and a valet service at
C-Lot, where students could drop their cars off, and have it retrieved by a valet from a lot further away.
Some ideas the school has looked into probably wouldn't work, based on issues other campuses are
having, and the intangibles of Buffalo weather, LeVine said. One in particular would have a sensor in
every parking spot that would be able to tell if the space was being used.
"One campus has done it, and they're having problems with it," he said. "We're concerned that the
snow would show that a space is filled when it's not."
One issue faced by the committee is the amount of construction being done on campus, LeVine said,
which can take lots off-line temporarily, or sometimes permanently.
"We can't be taking off a lot of lots, and not providing alternatives," he said.
Where the campus is located provides another set of challenges.
"We're a landlocked campus," LeVine said. "It's difficult to expand. We're surrounded on three sides,
and even if we did expand, parking would be on the outer edges of campus."
An important aspect of finding a solution to the parking issues on campus is gathering input from
faculty, staff and students, LeVine said.
While it's hard to make everyone happy, the solution to the parking issues on campus involves making it
easier to do.
"The solution is to make the outer lots convenient and desirable to use," LeVine said.
Michael Canfied can be reached by email at canfield.record@live.com.
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