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Some students are outraged by the parking changes outside Towson Run Apartments and Millennium Hall since the University fenced off a large portion of the parking lot in preparation for West Village construction.
Phase one of the housing complex, slated for completion by Fall 2008, will have two residence halls consisting of about 650 beds.
In preparation, about 250 spaces were eliminated March 12, and a pedestrian pathway was created over Spring Break to steer students away from the construction zone.
Some residents of Millennium and Towson Run are not happy with the fence and feel they should have been alerted sooner about what was going to happen around their building.
"They're taking advantage of the current students who pay a lot of money to come here," Mitchell Singer, a Millennium resident and sophomore chemistry major, said. "When we bought a permit we should have been informed."
Singer said parking is already a concern and the University doesn't have business taking away any additional spots.
"You would think Towson would care about the students they have now and not future students in 2009," he said.
Singer said he had no clue they were putting up the fence and when he woke up one day he found it outside.
Pam Mooney, director of parking and transportation services, said students were not told about the parking changes at the beginning of the semester because exact dates for construction were unknown.
"We knew it was in the plans to be built down there, but when the permits were being sold in the beginning we didn't have a schedule at that point," she said.
Millennium resident Mark Werner got ticketed and towed for "failure to obey signs." Werner said he parked in the fenced area before it was completely closed off but there were no cones blocking his spot. Werner got a $60 ticket and said the bumper of his car was cracked from the towing.
Ryan Nelson, a junior business management major living in Towson Run, said students got very little notice about the parking changes.
"I was pretty angry about it because they didn't give us much notice and they charged us the full amount for a parking permit and they got rid of half our parking," he said.
Nelson called the current parking arrangement unsafe because of all the cars crammed in. He said he deserves his money back or an apology about the parking permit he bought.
"I dropped $250 on a parking pass and I'm not getting my money's worth," he said. "I bought that with the impression of getting ample parking."
He also said he can already hear the noise from construction from his room.
"We're not getting what we paid for and it's hindering our learning environment," he said. "I paid for an atmosphere where I can study and sleep and relax. Seven days a week I hear a jackhammer."
He said it's like the University is openly supporting a loud and obnoxious environment for students.
"The timing of this construction project completely represents the Towson University administration's inability to make decisions concerning the student body," Nelson said.
Luke Layton, a Towson Run resident, said the parking situation only furthers the dissatisfaction of the student body at Towson.
"I think if Towson knew there was going to be construction going on they should have been more considerate of where the students live," he said. "They shouldn't have oversold parking permits to freshmen students when they knew they weren't going to have the space available because of construction."
Students who return to their rooms late at night often discover a difficulty in finding parking.
"When I go outside it's just a pain in the butt to walk around. If it's late at night there aren't enough spots around Towson Run for everybody," Brett Smith, a sophomore Towson Run resident, said.
To alleviate some of the need for parking spots, Mooney said freshmen with Towson Run permits and who live on the core campus are allowed to swap their permits for main campus permits. Students in Millennium can also park in a different lot.
"While we were making this transition, we had several residents say I'd rather park in Lot 11 in the Union than go all the way to 18 and around the fence," she said. "We sent out notifications to a bunch of Millennium Hall residents who had Towson Run permits, so several made the swap as well."
Students have even been voicing their anger about parking on Facebook. The group titled "This fucking fence in front of Towson Run is ridiculous," has 198 members and has turned into an open forum for students to complain about the fence.
Laura Tingwall, a sophomore nursing major, posted on the group's wall March 12.
"It pisses me off that we spend so much money to go here and all the time they disregard the concerns of the current students. All they care about it how they can make more money by addressing the problems that will better themselves and not us," she wrote. "Day after day I wonder why the hell I am still going here. If it wasn't for my friends and the social aspect of Towson I'd be gone."
Tuesday at 7 p.m., students can meet with parking and transportation services representatives in University Union Chesapeake I.
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