After two years of putting up with it, they won’t take it anymore.
A group of residents who live on Campus View Drive in Colonie have voiced their concerns about unwanted parked cars on their street. The issue was raised Thursday, May 22, at a regular Town Board meeting, when several residents stood up in front an audience of about 50 to complain about the situation.
Resident Pat Carnevale said students of Siena College who may not be able to find available parking on the college campus have been using the streets of neighboring residences to prk their cars for days at a time throughout the week and weekends.
Other residents who spoke at the board meeting complained about headlights shining in their windows after 1 a.m., or the noise the students make as they get in and out of their cars at what they say are all hours of the night.
Beverly Cavallaro, a resident of Campus View Drive, said that the students throw their trash all over the lawns.
Though Carnevale said this situation has occurred over the past two years, according to her and her neighbors, the situation has recently become progressively worse.
Alumnus Mike Conigliaro, who graduated last spring, said he had noticed the parking situation at Siena escalating during his third year attending the college.
`The population ` or the amount of students ` and the number of parking spots,` said Conigliaro, `[are] just not even proportional.`
Conigliaro also said that while no one in particular is at fault, parking at Siena becomes increasingly difficult for commuters and people who use campus facilities, such as the gym.
Another factor Conigliaro noticed when he was a student was the difficulty in parking as class sizes continued to grow.
`As the college is growing in student size, it’s getting harder and harder to park [at Siena],` he said.
While Conigliaro said he had never parked on Campus View Drive when he was unable to find parking on the Siena campus, Blake Kush, a current student who commutes to classes, has.
According to Kush, the college has strict rules against non-Siena students and freshman parking on campus, and some students would rather park somewhere off campus than deal with campus security. Kush also said people who might be drinking underage also could avoid facing security by simply parking somewhere else.
But Kush said he thinks the parking situation is `OK` and that he usually doesn’t have a hard time.
`I get the impression that Siena’s trying a trial and error with parking right now,` said Kush, explaining that, in his opinion, the reason students may be parking on Campus View may be that they are talking with the college to establish new parking rules.
But according to Dave Smith, vice president for external affairs at Siena College, the rules have always been, simply, that freshman are not permitted to park on campus, and that he believes the individuals parking on Campus View Drive are freshman who cannot get parking permits on campus.
Smith said that members of the freshman class are not issued parking permits, `unless they go through public safety and get approval,` which they can most likely receive if they are working 15 to 20 hours per week or have a medical reason for parking on campus, he said.
Smith said that the college has been made aware of the parking situation on Campus View Drive and that they are trying to work with the students to comply with the neighbors’ requests.
`We sent a notice to all of our students letting them know that there were some calls from neighbors that students were parking on lawns,` said Smith, who also said that other officials at the college have been in contact with Colonie Town Supervisor Paula Mahan.
Carnevale said she wanted it to be known that the residents aren’t angry with the students.
`We don’t blame the kids,` she said. `But we’ve already called the police, and we’ve called Siena.`
According to Carnevale, little has been done to ease the situation, though she is confident that `the new administration gets things done,` referring to the Town Board.
When asked if, as a result, Siena would consider increasing the available parking so that students would not feel the need to park on Campus View, Smith said, `No. We’re not considering that ` simply because we don’t have the room.`
Smith also said that Siena wants to let the town and neighbors know that the college is willing to help ease the situation in whatever way they can within their legal guidelines.
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