Parking problems persist amidst the chaotic first week of the 2023 fall semester at El Camino College.
As the new semester begins, El Camino students and employees report parking difficulties resulting from full lots and long car lines, affecting many people on campus.
Director of Public Information and Government Relations Kerri Webb said the number one complaint she hears from faculty and staff four days into the new semester is about parking. In some instances, students are parking in spaces reserved for employees.
Even El Camino College President Brenda Thames is not immune.
“The president has had a couple of people park in her spot, already this week,” Webb said.
Webb said she saw a student park in the president’s reserved spot and advised them to move four different times before the student listened.
Employee parking at El Camino is split between permit required faculty and staff parking which is free to the employees. The administrative “red zone” parking is reserved and costs $100 a year.
El Camino parking services officer Mitchell Kekauoha told The Union in the first week campus police are only issuing warnings to any unauthorized cars parked in the general faculty lots but will give $43 citations to cars parked in the reserved “red zone” areas.
Kekauoha said it was undetermined if campus police would begin to ticket cars parked in the general employee parking spots as the semester continued.
Business major Ashley Hernandez, 18, found it difficult to find a parking spot on her third day as an El Camino student.
“I had to make three stops around the parking lot before I found a spot,” Hernandez said. She also said she will try to arrive earlier to avoid the same thing happening again.
Janel Valdez, 19, is an administrative justice major and leaves home at 8 a.m. one hour before her class starts. Valdez said finding parking in Lot C was frustrating on Wednesday.
“I had to park all the way at the top, for the first time,” Valdez said.
On Monday, Alexa Findlay, a tutor and English instructor at El Camino said she searched for parking for about 30 minutes resulting in her being late for a tutoring session.
“I’ve been a tutor for a couple of years, and I’ve never had this problem,” Findlay said.
Ashley Gallimore, a staff member at El Camino’s Call Center, said parking has been terrible.
“It wasn’t as bad last semester,” Gallimore said. “It’s probably just because of Welcome Week.”
However, not everyone who spoke to The Union reported parking woes.
Biology major Angeline Granados, 20, recently began commuting to school. Granados said that parking is not too bad for her at 8 a.m. because she arrives around 30 to 50 minutes before her first class.
“I avoid Lot C, due to rumors that it gets incredibly crowded,” Granados said.
Student Miguel Ramir, 21, said he took less than 5 minutes to park his car on Wednesday and hasn’t had parking issues so far.
Psychology major Emma Trejo, 19, said she never struggled to find parking.
“When I have a morning class, I don’t see anybody at Lot L,” Trejo said.
74-year-old business administration major Antonio Torres said he doesn’t use the college lots. Instead he finds free street parking on Redondo Beach Boulevard.
Student Outreach employee, Jelissa Martin said driving to campus from Gardena takes five minutes and finding a parking spot on the first level of Lot L takes less than a minute.
Martin said she has experienced no issues with students taking up parking on the employee level of the lots.
Webb said she understands the frustration students face with parking and recommends everyone give themselves at least 10 to 15 minutes of extra time in their commute.
But Webb also wants to remind students it’s still no excuse for parking in someone else’s spot.
“Remember, if it’s reserved parking, it’s not reserved for you it’s for someone else,” Webb said.
