By BRITTANY WALL

Staff Writer

Tickets, outrage and stress have been plaguing the lives of many University Park Apartment residents as they face the daily obstacle of finding an authorized place to park.

Dickie Crawford, the dean of student life and auxiliary services, said help is on the way for these frustrated residents.

"We know there aren't enough parking spaces right now," Crawford said. "But we are in the process of building several parking lots to accommodate University Park residents."

Crawford said the university had plans of having parking accommodations earlier, but the weather has had a big effect on the construction's progress.

"With all the rain and bad weather we have been getting, it's just really been slowing us up," Crawford said.

But he said the parking lot that is being built north of Alabama Street will have 250 parking spaces and the parking lot being built on Mississippi Street will have about 175 parking spaces. These parking lots are scheduled to be finished and ready for use by the beginning of spring quarter.

"I know it's tough right now because there aren't enough parking spaces and it can get frustrating," Crawford said. "Right now, we're just asking for everyone's patience."

But some students said they think other factors make the parking situation more troublesome than it has to be.

"I can handle the parking for right now, but I do think some restrictions need to be made," Reyan McCalebb, a junior accounting major, said. "On Sundays when the sororities have their meetings they take up all the spaces over here and they park illegally which makes it hard for us to get in and out of spaces."

LaTanya Miller, a sophomore computer science major, said she would be glad when the fight for a parking space is over.

"I am so happy that we are getting more parking spaces because this is frustrating," Miller said. "I feel like I am always trying to beat someone else to a parking space. It's like a war out here."

However, Crawford said, other campus groups have been very cooperative in helping with the parking situation in University Park.

"The baseball coach has been very nice by letting us use the baseball parking lot until their games start," Crawford said. "University police and emergency services have also been very helpful."

Crawford said a bridge will also be put in place for students to use to walk to class, but it will not be finished until May. There will also be another parking lot by the bridge on Western Street and lights will be placed in the parking lots.

"I know a lot of people have been worried about the parking lots not having lights," Crawford said. "We want students to feel secure and be safe. The lights are huge and once we put them out there it will be so well-lit it will be like daytime at night."

A crosswalk and a red light will also be placed on Alabama Street and by the time all the parking lots are finished being built there will be an estimated 500 to 750 parking spaces, Crawford said.

"We didn't want to just put a huge parking lot in front of student's apartments," Crawford said. "We wanted them to have beautiful landscaping and a secure area. It's coming, but it's just coming in stages."