As of this semester, Moravian Campus Police has directed south campus residents to park in the Lehigh Street parking lot due to the Walnut Street Garage’s upcoming destruction. To make room for Bethlehem citizens to utilize the Bethlehem Spring Street lot during the demolition and future construction of the parking garage, students who paid for that parking lot were reimbursed and redirected.
Now into the rant: I would rather personally separate my spine’s vertebrae with a pair of tweezers than ever be forced to park in this lot again. I already complained about Spring Street not feeling safe when I parked there, but oh boy, I did not realize how lucky I was at the time. Like Spring Street, there are no blue lights on the journey to the parking lot, and I feel like I’m always moments away from being shanked.
Now, not to compare horseshoes to hand grenades, but there is a shuttle stop at Lot X, which is .03 miles away from the HUB, and there is not a shuttle stop at Lehigh Street, which is .04 miles from the HILL. So, it seems like it would be fair to establish a shuttle stop at Lehigh, especially when it is dark and not on-campus, while the walk from Lot X has multiple blue lights on its course.
I understand why the sideways aren’t cleared, but I feel like I am moments away from shattering every bone in the bottom half of my body when I’m walking over the icy pathways, and don’t even get me started on the wet socks.
Alright, now the real deal: this parking lot is the reason I possibly have a magistrate court date to appear in front of a genuine judge to defend my innocence. Despite being told through multiple email correspondences to park in this lot, I received not one, but two parking tickets from the Bethlehem Parking Authority. You know the saying: there are three things in life you can’t avoid, death, taxes, and having a bad parking experience at Moravian.
Imagine my shock when I recently walked out to my car, already running late for something, only to find two parking tickets placed neatly on my windshield. Now, I don’t use my car often during the winter since I hate walking during the cold, so I didn’t discover the ticket until at least a week after the first one was placed, only leaving me days to appeal or pay (until they send a WARRANT out for my ARREST!!!!!!).
So I appeal – and wake up to the nastiest email from the BPA I have ever received in my life and a denial of my appeal. I responded that their information was wrong and my school told me and other students to park there. They sent me back an official court document to declare myself innocent or guilty and that a future court date would be sent to me.
So, I handed my tickets over to Campo in hopes that they were handling everything, and am still praying to God I didn’t have an active warrant out for my arrest.
Now, riddle me this Bethlehem: Would I look better with my body intact or splattered across the street as new roadside paint because people can’t read stop signs? I would argue that a giant red octagon posted up proudly on the side of the road like the American flag on the moon would be a strong indicator of how to NOT HIT PEOPLE, but Bethlehemites (Bethleminians? Bethlitizens?) seem to think that it’s a suggestion as opposed to law.
Perchance it would be far too difficult to implement a stop light at the intersection of where our “beloved” *wink wink cough sniffle brap* new parking lot is. Maybe it’s not within our jurisdiction to request this or not within the sights of the city, however, I would feel much safer with something that people mostly stop more for than those stop signs that really don’t ensure my safety.
I understand that the shift from Spring Street to Lehigh Street was completely out of our control. But you know what else was? The death of Harambe. I hate that I couldn’t do anything about that now, but I guarantee that we can do something about ensuring some more precautions for Moravian students when they have to make the arduous trek from the HILL, or Comenius forbid, Main or Clewell, to get to their car.
Until some type of better system is enacted to deter people from playing for points in the DON’T HIT PEOPLE CHALLENGE: IMPOSSIBLE, South Campus residents are unequivocally screwed until then.
