Have you been driving to school and couldn’t find a parking spot on the street? Then you are not alone. Over the past couple of months, street parking on San Jose Blvd has been getting more and more difficult to find. The new consensus amongst students is that on-campus parking fills up around 7:30 in the morning, which is an entire hour before school starts.
The unfortunate part of this problem is if you do not arrive early, expect a 10-to-15-minute walk from your car to school. Bolles has also been cracking down on illegitimate parking on campus lots.
One problem with street parking has been the construction work that has been going on for the past couple months now. Construction workers for the Center for Innovation have needed to park on the street, according to Mr. Butler, the Director of Safety, Security, and Transportation at Bolles. Similarly, there has also been sidewalk construction by the Florida Department of Safety, which has brought in more workers parking on the street.
Bolles has been working on fixing this construction problem. “There is a move to identify how many parking spaces we have, and to get those construction workers that are parking along the street, so many of them to move to another area,” said Butler. This will hopefully free up some spaces for more students to park.
Another reason for the lack of parking may be the fact that this year, Bolles has had a record number of students attending. More students equates to more cars which creates less space.
Having students parking on San Jose Blvd and having to cross San Jose to get into school may be dangerous due to the traffic. Mr. Butler noted that there is now an increased number of police officers at the road and the campus has 24-hour security with its own daytime police officer. This should be reassuring to any students who feel unsafe when heading into school.
For the future of Bolles parking, the school is currently looking into how many parking spots they have available and how they can boost that number. Unfortunately, the new Center for Innovation will not be coming with any new parking spots for students. However, ten parking spots from the Marine Science building will be added to student parking next year.
The last couple months of street parking have been frustrating to say the least, but there are plans on improving parking not only on the street but also on campus for this and next year. Hopefully, the parking situation does get better over time, and there are alternative parking methods for school. Students can park at the local church if they pay the fee to get a reserved spot. There is also the option of carpooling. Students can also apply for on-campus parking for next year starting in April and ending in June. The Bolles School is doing everything in its power to help alleviate the parking crisis.
