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Parking problems this semester kicked off with a rocky start and the University Police Department has been trying to assess the damages.
University Police Department Chief Thomas Dewey noticed a lot more cars in the parking lots during the first week of school, and said the weather is partly to blame.
"People are not ready to walk home with the temperature being cold, the days shorter, and it raining," Dewey said.
He also credits the increase in parking congestion to the fact that half of the Harry Griffith Hall parking lot and the parking lot at the intersection of 17th Street and Union Street are closed.
"Parking is in more demand," Dewey said.
Lianne Montano, a Degree Audit Reporting for Students Programmer at Humboldt State, said there has been a decline in the struggle for parking over the past few semesters but noticed an increase this semester since construction began.
However, this temporary problem has no temporary solution.
Dewey said that by law parking has to pay for itself. The only money that can be used to build, light or repair a parking lot is permit revenue.
Montano said although she is a staff member, she too has to pay for parking.
She said it doesn't bother her that every semester $60 automatically gets taken out of her pay check.
"It's hard enough to come by for everybody," she said.
Moreover, Dewey said parking should be enforced 24 hours a day and seven days a week and added that in the next several years the department will try to enforce 24/7 parking requirements.
"Because wear and tear of a parking lot doesn't depend on the time of day it takes place," said Dewey.
Many other California State campuses have enforced 24/7 parking restrictions.
One example is California State University Channel Islands, which has enforced parking fees since it opened five years ago.
Christopher Jetton, a parking officer at the Channel Islands campus, said they got the idea for their 24/7 regulations from other campuses like California State University Northridge.
He said that they are very lucky in regards to not having many problems with parking, excluding the fact that their parking facilities are maxed out and their campus is still growing.
Jetton credits the 24/7 parking enforcement with causing less confusion.
Most citations issued at the Channel Islands campus are for permit violations, Jetton said.
He said a permit for one semester at Channel Islands costs $145, students who live on campus and require overnight parking pay $135, and a daily permit is $6.
Student permits at Humboldt cost $135 for one semester and $3 for a daily permit.
Some Humboldt students like Brian Kleinmeyer, a studio art major, would like to see more parking enforcement because of the $135 permit fee.
"It's easy to pop in and out without getting a ticket," he said.
In 2007 a total of 9,001 parking citations were issued, and this semester is looking no different.
Students and staff aren't the only ones who have to deal with citations. Dewey said that although there is no emphasis to catch permit violators he expects about the same amount of citations issued last January (936) to be issued this January.
Jeff Smoller was visiting the campus Jan. 25 for an interview with KHSU, when he was issued a citation for parking in a carpool parking space.
"I'm pissed," Smoller said.
"I'm not paying a f**k'n dollar," he said, with his parking permit in one hand and his parking citation in the other, to Katelyn Walsh, the parking booth attendant.
Smoller said the attendant who was manning the booth before Walsh gave him a visitors permit and told him "to park anywhere," so he did.
Smoller's citation was not dismissed but he plans to fight it.
"If it's not dismissed I will fight it because I followed the procedure I was told to follow," Smoller said. "I'm not going to pay for her mistake."
With the current situation, Dewey said he sees the whole city of Arcata as a park-and-ride due to the Jack Pack privilege on the Redwood, Arcata and Eureka transit systems which allow student to ride the transit for free.
Dewey encourages students to continue to use green alternatives to get to school. "Let's try and conserve the resources," he said.
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