In addition to other construction projects scheduled to take place at Brandeis soon, a plan to begin construction on a new parking garage where X-lot is currently located is sparking concern regarding on-campus parking for next year.

According to Vice President for Capital Projects Daniel Feldman, construction on the new garage will begin some time in the next fiscal year and the new structure will be largely devoted to student parking.

Feldman acknowledged in an email to the Hoot that while the new garage will prove beneficial for the campus in the long term, there will be some short-term inconveniences.

There is an enormous amount of construction scheduled to all be underway on the Brandeis campus at the same time, he said, citing the Science Complex Renewal Project Phase 1, the new Ridgewood Residence Hall, and the Edmond J. Safra Center for the Arts Phase 1 as other construction projects that will probably be carried on simultaneously to the parking garage construction.

Feldman also explained that while the university and the construction managers for the various projects will do whatever we and they can to minimize inconvenience and disruption, this amount of activity will likely result in quote a bit of both.

Students who live off-campus and must drive to the university have expressed concern that the loss of parking spaces to the construction project in X-lot will make an already bad on-campus parking situation worse.

According to Gina Gotthilf 09, it is so often that there isnt enough parking on campus even this term. The parking situation at Brandeis makes me so frustrated, she said. Do they expect me to turn around and go park in J-lot, hike all the way to campus and miss an entire class?

“The limited number of parking spaces is going to be a problem for the upperclassmen. I'm sure it will be helpful in the long run, but for now it's going to be a great inconvenience,” said Allison Gottlieb '10.

Danielle Ross 09 also expressed concern about the situation. It just makes it harder for people who want to bring cars up, she said. Its bad enough that theyre getting rid of housing, now theyre getting rid of parking. Its not fair [they] made housing impossible, now [they] made parking impossible.

According to Feldman, the university is actively looking into several different options to minimize the loss of parking spaces to construction, but does not yet have the definitive answer.