Sunday, November 08, 2009

Pathetic

Check it out: Boulder High is having a parking problem.

Far be it from me to wax grumpy... but I will anyway. I'm not even sure 16 year olds should be allowed to drive - and the whole idea of the high school spending money on expanding their parking, instead of, say, paying teachers or buying supplies is ludicrous.

Raise the fee for a parking pass to $1000 a semester. Or more. Keep raising it until there's room in the lot again. Tow and impound cars parked illegally. Boom. Problem solved.

9 comments:

dukes said...

How many of your bikes could a parent buy for the price of, say, one of those BMWs the kids there get to drive? Sheesh.

Dan O said...

It's not just a Boulder issue - we have the same deal here in the Seattle area. I live fairly close to a high school, all streets in the area have restricted parking due to the kids driving and resulting full parking lot.

Having a 10 and 5 year old in elementary school - can see where this mentality starts. My kids walk to school - an easy walk. On days when I get to walk my kids to school, I'm always amazed at the mini-van and SUV parade dropping kids off. I find it mind boggling and funny in a sick way.

Being semi-old dude, I graduated high school in 1979. I didn't own a car until after I graduated, but remember the parking lot not being overcrowded.

Kids also walked a bit to school. If I remember correctly, anyone within a mile radius walked to school. Otherwise, the school bus got you there. I remember very few kids being driven to school.

In any case, the entire mentality of this has changed over the years. At my kids elementary school, no bikes are allowed on school grounds. How wacked is that?

FixieDave said...

mega lame!

Anonymous said...

From a pure economic perspective, your $1000 per semester solution makes sense. However, our schools already favor wealthy kids versus lower income kids. Don't you think it sends the wrong message to let only rich kids drive to school?

Walt said...

Not really. Rich kids get all kinds of things that poor kids don't. I'd rather spend money on making sure those poor kids get a really good education than making them feel special by letting them park cars they can't afford and probably shouldn't have.

Seriously, the *central station* of the Boulder bus system is about 2 blocks from this school. Literally dozens of different bus routes go there, if not more. It's so easy to get there it's almost a joke, even if you don't want to walk or ride a bike.

Nowork said...

I like the "car Valet" option someone added on the camera website.

Only in the bubble!

Ban kids from driving to school.
Raise the age for driving nationally to 17 or 18,
reduce the age for drinking to 18.

Wow that sounds like Britain!

mattchew said...

hold a lottery for parking passes. allow the passes to be transferable, i.e. students can sell them to each other. boom problem of favoring wealthy kids solved.

Brian Wright- said...

You forgot Walt, it's a God given right as a teenager to be able to drive! I think everywhere deals with the same problem.

js said...

As a educated parent of substantial means, I am fully entitled to having my very special, gifted and talented child's needs met. Seeing that I vote and have friends at the paper it normally just takes a bit of face time to make sure the school is run appropriately. You'd be amazed though, I'm not sure how I fit in the 8-10hrs a week of educational advocacy work for junior, what with all the obsessing about cougar attacks, the evils of genetically modified foods, and negative consequences of vaccinations that occupies the rest of my time.

Oh wait... where did everybody go?