A Eureka Reporter story this morning headlined “CR drivers may be in for Halloween treat” reveals that College of the Redwoods is spending $1.5 million in Measure Q interest to repave the parking lot instead of using parking fees. That’s money that should be spent on educational facilities.

When I voted for the measure myself, I certainly didn't expect any of it to be spent on parking facilities. HSU pays for parking facilities only with parking fees and I assumed, apparently incorrectly, that there wasa similar policy at CR.

Keeping parking lots well-maintained is a fiscally responsible thing to do. It’s cheaper to resurface pavement than to rehabilitate it once it’s too far gone to reseal. And I imagine it is a treat for motoring students, staff and faculty to have a smooth ride to their parking space. The problem is where the money is coming from.

When parking is subsidized, the incentives to do what makes the most sense are not in place. Why bike or ride the bus when parking is cheap or free?

Is CR subsidizing these other modes as much as they do parking? CR still has no universal bus pass for students. Although Measure Q probably isn't an appropriate source for any transportation related services, for the sake of comparison, $1.5 million could have completely funded a universal bus pass for 5 years for all CR students. Instead, CR spends it maintaining a huge parking lot so students can keep spending their money on gasoline to bring their cars there to park on it.

In a world with greater transportation equity, parking fees would pay for maintaining the lot as well as subsidizing services for other ways of getting to campus that reduce parking demand and therefore parking facilities costs. But the very least we should ask is that maintenance of the parking lot be paid for by parkers, not by tax-payers who voted to provide money for educational facilities.