Do you really need to take your car to school if you live close by?

Dear students who live close to campus and decide to drive their cars to campus anyways,

Hi, how are you doing? How was your two-minute drive to school? Were you able to find a parking space? I have a serious question for the students who do this. Why do you guys drive to school when you live close by?

I understand if you have work right after class or if you have late classes and you don’t like walking in the dark or if you have an injury that makes walking painful or a disability but to the students who don’t fall under these categories, what is your problem? Tell me, what’s your excuse?

Parking spaces at Chico State are limited, yet you still want to drive to school even though y’all live less than ten minutes away from school. It takes longer for you to find parking than to actually drive to school. Not only that, but you are taking away parking spaces that people who live farther away actually need.

I have a better solution, one that will help the planet and will also help you. Walking! I personally love to walk to school, because once in a while you see interesting things happening. One time I saw a cop arresting an old lady and another time I saw this strange man come out of a manhole. Also, another cool thing about walking is that you can use your phone without causing any problems. Cause I know most of y’all like to use your phones when you drive. But, that is a discussion for a different time.

Does it really bother you to find another mode of transportation? Do you really have to hog up the parking spaces when you don’t need it? You can walk to school, ride your bike, scooter, skateboard or even take the bus to school. It wouldn’t hurt to try. You would also be saving money on gas.

At the end of the day, it’s up to you if you want to drive and look for a parking space for like 30 minutes and maybe even be late to class simply ’cause of parking. But, always remember that you have two useful things you can use and that is your legs.

So stop hogging the parking spots and get walking.

Salma Reyes can be reached at [email protected] or @Shabilakas on Twitter.