Starting March 1, the Carmel Clay Public Library (CCPL) began towing cars that were parked in their parking lot without permission. This is just the latest of many punishments given by the city of Carmel for unwarranted parking, especially on Main Street. Carmel police regularly give tickets to those who park beyond three hours on curbsides and fines are given to those who park in the church or the Lion’s Club across the street. These restrictions have been on the rise due to the increase in students parking in those places to avoid the tedious walk up the trail or the traffic after school.

During the summer of 2021, CHS constructed a third parking lot outside the natatorium and since have made many of those spots available to students for specific reasons, mostly Class Awards. The HiLite Staff commends the school for adding this lot, and we encourage the school to continue to add more near the natatorium for additional students to park to help mitigate parking issues in the football stadium and other unwarranted spots.

The new lot however brings one point that is in need of fixing, which is the complicated and often difficult process of obtaining a parking pass to be able to park in one of the lots near the natatorium. While those spots are geared towards students who are in leadership positions in extracurricular activities or Class Awards, the HiLite Staff criticizes the sheer lack of opportunities that students have to get a parking pass, and we offer a few suggestions as to how the school can implement them.

First, the school can allow for more Class Awards to be given out to students. Currently, there are many open parking spots in the available lots near the natatorium that can be filled by having more Class Awards for students. Second, the school can continue to construct new lots in the fields next to Murray Stadium and the current lots next to the natatorium entrance. This will allow the school to have more parking spots to give out and thus more student parking.

Allowing more students to park closer to school entrances, several problems can be fixed. First, the usual traffic entering and exiting the stadium can be decreased and therefore less of a hassle for students who want to park their car at school. Second, less students will be inclined to park in spots not allowed by the city of Carmel.

We acknowledge that students should follow the parking guidelines set by the school and park only in allowed spots but inevitably, some students feel the need to find a shortcut. By allowing more parking passes to be available, more students will be motivated to earn a spot in a lot near the natatorium.