You Can't Always Park Where You Want

“This campus was designed before the idea of having so many students and staff,” said Vice Principal Christopher Webber. “As we’ve grown, we just don’t have the infrastructure to accommodate everyone.”

To park at Lahainaluna in the paved lot, there are rules. According to Uncle Tommy Akima, all students who park in the upper lot must have a parking pass, which costs fifteen dollars. To get this, they must present their vehicle’s registration, driver’s license, proof of insurance, and school ID. “Without a parking pass you parked on the lower dirt parking lot.”

Yet, not every student who has parked on campus has had a pass. Some have parked with much less. Also, recently, parking spaces have become harder to find.

Again, the main parking lot is for the drivers who purchase a parking pass. Seniors get priority for parking, but lately this hasn't been happening. “Even though I paid fifteen dollars for my sticker when I get to school sometimes there isn't enough spots,” senior Anuhea Coon said.

One reason for this, offered senior Stasia Pililani, is because “a lot of sophomores are getting their licenses, and so then once they get their license, they think that they can park up top.” She thinks this is unfair and that “the freshmans and sophomores need to just stop parking in our parking spots and we'll be fine.”

There is currently no requirement for where to park based on grade level. Yet, if all the spots are full, the dirt lot is an alternative. Some students may even choose the dirt lot for other reasons.

An anonymous senior admitted that “when I was a sophomore and a freshman and I was driving with no license, I would park down in the dirt because I didn't want to steal a spot—If you don’t have your license you don’t have a spot.”

Unlicensed students may be contributing to the fact that the dirt lot, according to some students, has also become full. Junior Giana Pogni offers another reason: “over winter break everybody got cars so now there's like ten times more cars then there were.”

Junior Isabella Higgins relates the difficulty of parking now in the dirt lot since “You need to park between a lot of cars and there's usually not a lot of room.”

Parking in Restricted Areas

Without a pass, students should be in the dirt lot. Yet, Uncle Tommy observes that “nobody wants to park in a dirt parking lot.”

Students like Coon have started to find other places to park, such as the gravel area by the portables. She says, “I’ve had to park in the dirt lot and then I've also like resorted to parking in the upper lot. Not like the staff lot but like the upper grass lot.”

Vice Principal Webber has noticed students are starting to try to park in the trainers’ lot next to the trainers’ room. This has led them to close off the area. This is not the only off-limits place they are parking. “Students are taking the initiative,” says Webber, “to park just below borders field.” Uncle Tommy has seen students parking in the administration lot as well.

Japanese teacher David Esselburn says that sometimes when he goes up to the library during the day, he “will see student vehicles up there.”

More Cars, More Problems

“It’s hectic to go out of the parking lot,” says Isabella Higgins. Webber thinks a reason for this is because “You’ll be in line trying to get out and some people will just cut in front of you.”

“We don’t actually have assigned parking spaces,” Webber notes. “So the way that students park may be sort of haphazard and that might make it difficult for some kids to get in and out as well.”

Junior Higgins thinks, “We need to expand the parking lot to get more parking so everyone can fit.”

To this, Webber notes that “we cannot magically make more parking spaces on campus,” but he thinks that “maybe we can designate proper like parking spaces, chalk out some lines, and maybe that will have people park more orderly so that we can fit people in better.”

There was a time at our school when we had this. Webber recalls, “Two or three years ago we had designated spots for each student in the student lot. You had your spot with a number and you as a senior, you could even decorate it.” Webber admits, “We have talked about maybe doing that for next year again.”