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January 23, 1996

 

F

er Press

 

Parking problems at DC? Park your eyes here!

Ace reporter reveals all about parking (or lack thereof) at Douglas College

by Veronika Zador

Anyone who has ever
driven to school knows that
parking is a real problem at
Douglas College’s New
Westminster campus, no
matter which option you
choose.

The most obvious problem
is the parkade under the
college, and ifyou’ve ever
tried to leave your car in there,
you are probably familiar with
the 15-40 minute long-line
ups that extend way down the
street. The waiting not only
creates frustration, but many
students arrive late to their
classes. While waiting in line,
watching car after car come
out from the parking lot, you
may realize why you have to get to
school almost an hour early to be on time
for your classes.

There are 695 parking spots in the
underground parking of the college’s
main building, and 700 passes have

   

Worse than the number one, this traffic jam occurs every two hours on Victoria street
as students vie for parking spots.. Honk if you read the Other Press! Darin Clisby photo

already been sold. As Bud, one of the
employees of Imperial Parking explains,
there have to be spaces maintained every
hour for those who were able to purchase
a parking pass. Once the hour has past it
is presumable that people with passes are

We’re outta here!

500 students graduate from Douglas

by Samuel Lapalme-Remis

Just under five hundred Douglas
College students reached the light at the
end of the tunnel Friday, January 12. Two
different graduation ceremonies were
held at the DC gymnasium for students
in such programs as Child & Youth Care,
Psychiatric nursing, and Criminology.
Students were garbed in blue graduation
robes and food was served in the
concourse following the graduation
ceremony. For some students, this
ceremony constituted the final chapter
of their experience at DC, while some
planned to return for further education.

On this day, at least, most seemed to
be pleased with both the ceremony and
their education at DC. Kyle Peters, who
obtained a certificate in Community
Social Service Worker, claimed that
Douglas College had been “absolutely
wonderful” for him. “The professors
were great and I really had an enjoyable

experience... There are lots of job
prospects from this program.” He added
that the graduation ceremony went really
well. “There were many long speeches
but everyone deserves to be
acknowledged [because] everyone’s
done such a great job here.”

Another student, who is known simply
as Tina, was “impressed with the whole
setup. We all got gowns and they really
seemed to take time and effort to plan
ie

Fellow students and their loved ones
were in attendance for the graduation.
Although the roads that the students will
take in future will all be different, most
everyone seemed optimistic on this day.
The Other Press would like to
congratulate all graduates for their hard
work and success, and we wish them the
best of luck for the years to come.

 

not going to arrive.
That is why cars are
let in 5-15 minutes
past the hour. There
are 2 other separate
garages where DC
students can park: the
one on Carnarvon
Street, which can
accommodate 250
cars; another one at
Royal Towers
(Queens Ave. /7th
St.), which has 75
parking places. The
above places are
unused by most DC
students.

Many people do not
know about the

existence of these smaller lots. Others
think they need a pass to park at Royal
Towers. Others are simply not attracted
to the option of walking for 5-10
minutes.

Another concern might be safety. Not

 

Blizzard!

by David Sussman

On Monday, January 22nd, Douglas
College closed at 2:00pm on account of
a few (snow)flakes. Temperatures
plummeted to a frigid 2 degrees below
zero, and were expected to drop a full
one more degree. The centimeter or two
of snow present in most regions of the
Fraser Valley was expected to reach a
waist-deep 8 centimeters by Tuesday.
Environment Canada issued a “snowfall
warning,” so administration had no
choice but to institute emergency close-
down measures. Weather conditions
were expected to make transportation
difficult for many students, especially if
they insisted on driving their own
vehicles. Alternately, individuals could
have taken public transportation, which
was operating only slightly behind
schedule, with extra skytrains running
to meet the expected increase in number
of riders. Snow flurries and rain are
expected to continue until the end of the
week, therefore we are unsure whether
or not classes will resume before the end
of the season. Presently, there are no
known casualties, although resident
Other Press mascot Trent Ernst almost
slipped on the sidewalk this morning,
and Arts student Andrew Carroll actually
witnessed a citizen fall down. Proper
footwear is advised.

many women are comfortable walking
blocks to their cars at ten at night.
Fortunately, students with passes to the
smaller lots are able to park in the main
lot after 6 pm.

Other people have found a solution to
the parking problem by exploring the
nearby streets of New Westminster,
leaving their cars and walking those 10
minutes to the college. Some of them are
taking a risk, hoping that the two hour
parking limit sign is only there for
decoration.

Then there are those courageous
fellows who challenge the rain, cold,
wind and parking patrol by placing their
cars by a parking meter, and racing
against time each hour to feed it with
coins.

If you belong to the latter category,
good news might be on the way. Peter
Greenwood, Vice President of the
Finance & Administration Division of
DC has presented a request to the New
Westminster City Council to change the
one hour time limit in the meters to two

hours.

To avoid all the inconveniences listed
above, a solution could be to go green,
using buses and Skytrain. Unfortunately,
time seems to be the biggest obstacle in
the using of public transportation. The
majority of students who answered the
question of “Why take the car instead
of the bus,” replied that it would take
too much time. Johnny, a student
patiently waiting in line in front of the
parking lot, said it would take two anda
half hours to get here from his home in
North Vancouver. The situation is the
same for those who come from the far
reaches of the Lower Mainland. Those
who do not have time constraints, they
take their cars for comfort and
convenience.

Regarding the parking meter motion,
the city will not extend the parking limit.
The issue has been passed on to the
Community Relations Committee.

 

ee

degree programs:
¢ Bachelor of Arts (General)

disciplines)
- Elementary

Nations program.

For information,

   

 

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is now accepting Applications for Admission to the following

e Bachelor of Arts in Child and Youth Care
e Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies (and various

¢ Bachelor of Education - Elementary
e Bachelor of Education - Post-Degree Professional

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Applications are also being accepted for the Arts One - First

visit our website at http://
www.mala.be.ca, or call the Advising Centre

(604) 755-8752

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Nanaimo, BC V9R 5S5