As a member of the Mines Park community sometime I understand the basic principle of preventing MP residents from being able to obtain parking passes in efforts to reduce parking lot congestion on campus. However as a parent of Mines Park my spouse and I have reached a point where we realize that something needs to change.

90-95% of the time I walk to school everyday while, my spouse who works a 7-4pm shift at a government agency, must get our 4 year old up, dressed, fed, and off to school by 6:30am in the morning. We have to place this undue burden on our 4 year old M-F because I, who don't even start classes until 8am, cannot drop her off at school and pick here up since I don't have quick access to a vehicle that fits within the time frame of classes. For the most part we deal with it as any other inconvenience yet this past week, I've reached a breaking point. My spouse was simply unable to drop her off in the morning due to mandatory training and thus, I had to assume the responsibility of a parent spending 45 min to get her up, dressed, fed, and off to school. With 15 minutes left to make it to class before my first round of exams, I realized there was no realistic way that I was going to be able to have enough time to drive the car back home, park it, and then book it downhill without being late to the exam. So naturally I had to come on to campus and pay for a 3 hour parking pass, which I ended up getting another ticket for from having to go straight from the exam, to Diff EQ.

After accumulating a few tickets over my time here at mines for similar situations of having to drive the car to school because I have to be the parent that picks up the kid halfway through the day for a doctors apt. having to bring my daughter to school with me because she was sick and couldn't go to school, or ended up having to drop her off in the morning because my spouse simply could not, I (and my spouse) are extremely frustrated by the illogical conclusion of parents not being able to purchase a parking pass.

Aside from the situations mentioned above the matter is also a safety concern. If I get a phone call from the school, hospital, or whomever in case of emergency, I cannot go out to my vehicle and head to her aide. No rather, I have to waste 15 precious minutes trying to walking back up the hill. And in an emergency situation, 15 minutes can be the difference between life and death.

I am aware that Mines makes an exception to allow residents of family housing in Mines Park to have two vehicles. Why? because of the unique situations where two vehicles become neccessary for families. Along those lines Mines needs to make an exception for parking permits to allow family housing residents to purchase a parking permit of some type. I don't care if it would be the same for commuter or general parking lots. Due to the fact that Mines has a multitude of parking pass types, I'm sure a new one could be created that could differentiate family housing residents from traditional MP residents. Whatever the case, this needs to be addressed quickly as this is a serious issue from a family logistics perspective as well as a safety concern.