The lack of parking at Hall High school is an issue that affects both staff and students alike. There simply isn’t enough parking space for all of the people attending the school. Cars are outnumbering the amount of parking spaces in the three different parking lots provided on the school’s property, whether in the faculty or student lot. This drives people to find their own areas to park, which the neighboring Eisenhower Park, along with its attached side streets, has fallen victim to.

“I’d get back and there’d be no parking spaces, the one that I left someone had taken,” says Scott Sampietro, a woodworking teacher at the school who had his spot stolen after taking a quick drive to Home Depot for some classroom supplies, “I had to park by the stop sign at the end of the drive by Northwest Catholic (about ¼ of a mile away from the school).” The faculty lot, designed to give staff members a quick and easy walk into the building, sometimes gets infiltrated by desperate students looking for a spot closer to school. 

The main parking lot tends to have space open while at eisenhower cars spill out into the grass and surrounding side streets.“There’s people that are parked down to the entrance of the school and all along Eisenhower Park like Maiden Lane and the parking lot there,” said Scott Sampietro. This excessive amount of cars over at Eisenhower also poses safety risks for students, Scott Sampietro said that cars parked close to the stop sign near the school and near the crosswalk pose a safety concern because the cars block the view and crowd the only space for people to cross the street safely, the crosswalk. The main parking lot tends to have space open while at eisenhower cars spill out into the grass and surrounding side streets, “A lot of spots are open all the time, and there’s assigned parking so when kids don’t show up, there are open spots no one can use,” says Hall senior Kendra Kane.

Cars that park on the grass not only kill it they also tear up the land. The city had to build a wooden barrier to keep vehicles off of the soccer field next to the lot because of the damage it was causing to the field. Hall has a turf field and other areas of the campus designated to sports but there is roughly two acres of land which aren’t being used for anything.  “Expand the lot, have a more efficient parking space,” says student Tyler Fairchild (Hall High School student) who is dealing with the parking crisis. Other students are speaking out for more parking spots. Students at Hall want more parking spots even if that means getting rid of grassland to play on.

Teachers like Mr.Sampietro also agree that there is indeed space to make room for more parking but he also said, “I don’t necessarily want to see more areas for parking created on the school grounds. Like the whole area outside by the kickboard could be a parking lot.” This creates a problem for everyone who is trying to find a solution because some want more space to be made while others think that making more space is unrealistic which leads to students making their own space which leads to problems like grass fields being parked on.