Peeved over SSU parking

<p>Every day, dozens of Sonoma State University students turn to neighborhood streets near campus for relief from the hefty on-campus parking fees.</p><p>“I can't afford the pass,” said SSU senior Jordan Young of Novato, who was parking Thursday on Meridian Circle. “It takes 10 minutes to get to campus.”</p><p>It's not just the students who want to avoid paying for an on-campus parking pass, which is $94 per semester.</p><p>“We have furloughs and we have a 10 percent pay cut,” said SSU philosophy professor Roger Bell, who was parking on Roman Drive.</p><p>Young and Bell are among those who park in the R and M sections of Rohnert Park, where residents complain the SSU overflow has clogged the streets and blocked driveways and handicapped access ramps.</p><p>“I have a planter box that I paid good money to put in, and every Saturday I have to clean out the trash,” said M section resident Ron Alves. “They start parking at 6 a.m. and classes go to 8 p.m.”</p><p>“Sometimes they park in the handicapped areas and crosswalks and they'll park in my driveway,” said M section resident Marla Bolstad. “It is an annoyance.”</p><p>The problem has become so prevalent that the Rohnert Park City Council on Tuesday will consider establishing a residential parking permit program in the two neighborhoods to discourage SSU parkers.</p><p>“I just want to feel like I live at home and not in a parking lot,” said Sandy Covall-Alves, Sonoma County's emergency services coordinator and an M section resident, who supports the idea.</p><p>Several dozen cars were parked bumper-to-bumper last week for five blocks along Maurice Avenue and on its side streets, where the problem is the most severe.</p><p>“I walk to work through that neighborhood, and it is just the volume of cars,” said Missy Brunetta, the parking administrator for SSU's police services. “They are not the politest parkers. All of those cars lead to an increase in traffic, and an increase in pedestrians. And there is trash alongside the cars and things like that.”</p><p>Under a proposed ordinance, parking permit areas could be set up if approved by 65 percent of the residents in the M and R sections, where there are 750 homes. The cost of the permits and the fines have not been set.</p><p>Similar permit areas have been established at the Santa Rosa and Petaluma campuses of Santa Rosa Junior College, and around the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa, the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds in Petaluma and Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.</p><p>SSU is one of only four of the 23 California State University campuses without such parking regulations.</p><p>SSU's Brunetta said the issue is cost, not space, because the university has enough room for parking.</p><p>The campus has 5,300 parking spaces and will sell that many parking decals, but because of the turnover, there are always spots available on campus, Brunetta said.</p><p>“We have plenty of parking. We average from 1,000 to 500 vacant spaces a day,” Brunetta said.</p><p>Brunetta also said the SSU parking charge is among the lowest among state universities.</p><p>Still, students who are on a budget say $94 per semester is a lot.</p><p>“I'm doing it on student loans, so I could do it, but I would have to pay it back later,” said student Henry Olcese of Santa Rosa. “It is not easy, and I am considering going to grad school, which is considerably more.”</p><p>The council meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Bob Norberg at 521-5206 or bob.norberg@pressdemocrat.com</p>