By Kristin Owens

Last Tuesday's city council meeting was a slap in the face to the entire student population of Provo.

A crowd of worried students who rent condos in Belmont, King Henry, Arlington and Highland Park spilled out of the council chambers and into chairs in the hallway, sharing the room with frustrated neighbors from the surrounding neighborhoods.

The issue was parking. On the table was a proposal to prohibit students from parking along 700 North and almost any other street within a mile of the student condos around Seven Peaks Boulevard.

The student parking blackout would be effected by issuing two street parking permits to each neighborhood residence -- with none available to the landlords or renters of student condos.

It was clear from the beginning that council members did not view the students as real constituents on par with their "grown-up" neighbors. After a representative of the Arlington homeowner's association spoke on behalf of students' equal right to the curb, students applauded loudly. It turns out that clapping at a Provo town meeting was grounds for council chair George Stewart to threaten clappers with eviction from the premises and the use of police force. From that moment I knew we had no chance.

The root of the parking problem is simple. With the exception of King Henry, these student condos are not supposed to be student condos -- they were built under family zoning guidelines, which meant builders only had to provide two parking spots per condo.

Although the condos are almost entirely occupied by student renters, the city insists that the original zoning agreement be upheld and that landlords provide a parking spot for each occupant. That number of spaces doesn't currently exist, and there are no plans for creating more. In complexes like Arlington, at least one roommate -- and all visitors -- must park on the street.

The city council's response to our total dependence on street parking? Easy -- one roommate is not allowed to own a car. One council member helpfully suggested students "ride a bike" to school and work, apparently believing bikes come with snow tires.

While a number of community members said they had no problem with their BYU neighbors personally, I was taken aback by the vitriol of others. There were complaints of our rudeness, claims that we trespass, vandalize and generally create havoc as we walk to and from our cars, tales of students parking on lawns and sidewalks. One man threatened violence with a baseball bat if his property were trespassed again. Not surprisingly, he got understanding nods from the council members rather than a police threat.

While I personally have never witnessed anything like this, if these things are happening, they should be punished. We just need somewhere, anywhere to park.

Seven Peaks Boulevard is the obvious choice -- the street is almost as wide as 900 East but with half as many lanes, yet for some reason both sides of the entire road are "no parking" zones. There are only two neighborhood houses on the street, making it the obvious solution to give students a place to park while giving the neighbors their curbs back. The city council was unresponsive to this repeated suggestion. After all, if they make students' lives miserable, landlords will be forced to "come into compliance."

I understand the city's annoyance at having their zoning regulations disregarded. What I don't understand is what they hope to accomplish here. Do they hope all students without parking spots will move elsewhere, leaving apartments half empty? That a parking structure will materialize? That actual families will move in and fill hundreds of formerly student condos?

At the end of the Tuesday meeting, the council voted unanimously to require permits beginning in January because residents have "suffered enough." Council member Steve Turley posed the question to one student, "Don't they [the homeowners] have some right to quality of life?"

Interesting question. The homeowners have had to put up with students parking and walking on their streets. To save them this inconvenience, students will be forced to either move mid-school year or park their cars miles away from their homes. Whose right to quality of life is being compromised?

The city's refusal to do the rational thing and allow parking on Seven Peaks Boulevard shows total callousness toward the plight of hundreds of students and anyone who might want to visit them. The people running this city have made it obvious that they have no regard for the students who make Provo what it is. Council elections are Nov. 6 for the next four years. Will anyone be our voice in this town?

Kristin Owens is from Niguel, Calif. and is a print journalism major.

Copyright Brigham Young University 24 Oct 2007