Gables Lot Mayhem, How Long is Too Long

Gables Lot Mayhem, How Long is Too Long

Days after the Nor’easter buried the coast of New Hampshire in snow, the University of New Hampshire Gables residents continued to dig themselves out of four foot snowbanks with University plows still three days out.

Dan Barlow, a Junior from the University of New Hampshire, spent the weekend following the storm digging out his own car as well as his friends, and says that its really the university’s job to do the post-storm clean up.

“It’s just ridiculous,” says Barlow. “We all pay over 300 dollars a semester to park in this lot every year, and they can’t even help is get our cars out of the lot in a reasonable amount of time. If anything, they made it worse by plowing in between the cars and leaving the snowbanks.”

In those days following the storm, students could be seen all throughout the lot shoveling snow from behind their cars and throwing that snow wherever they could find room: in the road, between the cars, or even behind another car. Some students could even be seen brushing off their car and attempting to backup through the embankment created by the plow.

Students who attempted to shovel out and move their vehicles to the one small plowed section were ticketed for not parking within the lines.

Monday night, three days after the storm, many cars were still under snow, and the lot had become a mess. After a few days of melting and then refreezing, ice now covered the parking lot making it hard for even those who were plowed out to leave. 

It was Monday night when Brandon McCarthy, a UNH Sophomore, realized the extent of how bad the lot had gotten.

“I never thought it would get this bad” said McCarthy whose car wheels were stuck spinning in the ice. “I just came out to my car to run to the store, and I just couldn’t get out. The wheels kept spinning, there was no traction. My passenger tried to get out and push, but it was no use. It ended up taking four people to push the car out of the ice. Even then it got stuck twice more before I finally got out of the lot.”

University Transportation Services, the organization in charge of plowing the lot, waited until Tuesday to notify Gables residents of the plowing plan. 

Gables residents were asked to move their cars out of the lot starting at 6:00pm Wednesday, many of the cars still boxed in by snow, and to have them back in their assigned lot by 8:00am the next morning. 

Residents received the message with much hostility about the timing of the plows and about the time they would have to awake and move their vehicles.

“Is there any more inconvenient time they could chose?” said Cam Cyr, a senior Gables resident. “We wouldn’t have this problem if they just plowed us out earlier.”

UTS refused to comment on the timetable they set for the lot plowing further frustrating Gables residents. “It’s like they think we’re just going to forget about it.” said Barlow. 

Despite the efforts made by the University to clean the lot, many students are considering parking their cars elsewhere next year believing that they can find a cheaper alternative with more lot maintenance. Whatever the case, Transportation Services are under tough criticism for what seems like neglect for the students who spend the most to park on a yearly basis.