The Representative Assembly on April 23 approved the Faculty Welfare Committee’s recommendation to form a Special Committee on Parking Issues. Concern has grown since a 1997 long range plan revealed that “A” parking sticker costs could increase from $360 per year to $948 by 2004.  The thought of paying nearly $1000 each year to park is dismaying to many faculty and staff.

Last summer, DFA offered assistance to Bryan Miller, Chair of the Davis Division of the Academic Senate, to help resolve parking issues. Before his untimely death, Bryan had written to the Chancellor questioning why parking spaces were being replaced by buildings with no compensating funds for the lost parking spaces.  State law mandates that parking must be self-supporting, but using parking income for other purposes is objectionable.

DFA also wrote to the Vice Chancellor for Administration to express concern for the alarming prospect that parking costs could nearly triple in the next several years.  Responses received from UCD administration have not allayed the concerns, and apparently the administration does not wish to reinstate the parking advisory committee that was disbanded four years ago.  Efforts to improve alternative transportation
and commuting systems are worthwhile, but overall planning has suffered from insufficient faculty input.

A strong perception among faculty is that the new Center for the Arts will be built on parking spaces that employees have already paid for.  Apparently, the fund-raising plans for the Center do not include sufficient new investment funds for parking facilities at the Center.  Under current plans, new parking facilities to replace those removed for new construction will have to be financed from increases in parking rates paid by UC Davis employees and students.  Such perceptions cannot help the campaign to secure donations for the Center for the Arts.

Similar experiences at UC Santa Cruz confirm that the UC administration is insensitive to employee parking needs.  Between $1 and $2 million in funds received from parking fees have been openly diverted by UCSC to purposes other than parking.  The UCSC Faculty Association, the legal bargaining agent for the UCSC faculty, is contesting the diversion of funds.  Bargaining on the dispute is at an impasse, however, and a Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA) ruling has been requested to resolve the matter.  Information on HEERA may be found at <http://home.pacbell.net/ucfa/>.

The disputes suggest that a careful accounting of UC parking fees and investments is needed, with appropriate credit allocated for parking facilities that have been paid for by users.  The new Academic Senate committee should stand firm to resolve this matter fairly for UC employees.