Eagle Landing does its best to address Parking Deck Issues

By JACKSON DOWNEY

Staff Writer

The Eagle Landing parking deck has recently been experiencing a variety of technical difficulties, leading to frustrated students.

According to residents of Eagle Landing, there have been issues with the gate on the third level not opening, and potentially keeping students from being able to access the proper parking level. Students expressed concern over this issue since they are faced with the possibility of parking fines and even towing if they do not park in the correct spot.

Students noted from their experiences, that it appears one of the main issues with the parking gate is the RFID reader. Tags using RFID, or radio frequency identification, are given to students using the Eagle Landing parking deck. These tags are used to open the gates at the entrance, which have been broken, to the parking deck and to open gates on the third floor.

If students park on the first or second floor before the gate, their cars can be towed, which can cost students over $100 according to Shanks Towing. Shanks Towing is the company used to tow vehicles from Eagle Landing and Eagle Village.

“Sometimes getting the sensor to open the gate can be really irritating,” said Faith Hogue, who is a sophomore marketing major. “I’ve had to reverse my car and try again several times.”

Some students have found ways to deal with the sensor issue. “I’ve found that finding the right spot to hold [the RFID] on my windshield is super hard, but after you find the right spot you should stick it on with the Velcro it comes with so you don’t have to play the guessing game every time you get to the gate,” said junior historic preservation major Rachel Zernick.

While using velcro offers a solution to the situation, it can be time consuming and expensive for the students to have to complete it. Hogue stated that her tag did not come with Velcro, making this process more time consuming and expensive if she were to decide to undertake it.

“Mine doesn’t have Velcro on it so I have to store it somewhere in my car and then pull it out when I get to the gate,” said junior American Studies Major Mackenzie Hard.

Since the problem with the RFID scanner first arose, there have been some students who have heard the situation was fixed and others who have still experienced issues.

Hard also takes issue with an aspect of the third floor gate, the amount of time it stays open.

“I feel that it is also really unsafe that the gate stays up for so long after you’ve gone through,” said Hard. “It should come down right after you’ve gone through. You never know if the person behind you is a student or not, so really anyone could go into our section of the parking garage.”

These issues are in the process of being brought to the attention of Parking Management. Jean Elliot, the Parking Management Services Manager, stated that the office of parking management had, “not received any prior communications regarding entry at the student level.” Elliott said that parking management encourages students to report issues whenever they occur.

While the third floor gate has been an issue for many students, it is not the only problem that the parking deck has. Approximately two weeks ago, someone drove through the exit gate on the first floor of the parking deck, breaking the wooden beam that would otherwise block the exit and then rise as drivers come to a stop. The broken piece of beam sits on the curb, while what is left of the beam fails to block the exit, allowing drivers to speed through.

Elliott has talked with the property manager at Eagle Village and was told that, “parts have been ordered, and the gate will be repaired as soon as the parts come in.”