Parking

Parking at USAFA is always a hot-button issue. For some reason, you are not allowed to bring your car to school until you are in your third year. Once that happens, the reward is only bittersweet. Yes, a vehicle is made available, but for some cadets in dorms far away from the parking lot, getting off base can be quite the trek. The walk down to their car can be up to a mile, after that, it's another 8 miles to the gate, and then another 8 miles to downtown Colorado Springs. Especially in the winter the weather keeps cadets indoors which contrtibutes to antisocial tendencies, but that's for another blog entry.

There are better parking options, though. If you achieve a high position in the Cadet Wing, you are given a premium spot right underneath the dorms. For this reason alone I was heavily considering applying for a high position, but in the end I opted against it. Close to the Sijan dormitory, there is another parking lot which houses Mitchell Hall workers, J & J Maintenance people, and a handful of selected cadets.

Ever since I can remember I've always wondered why they don't just build another parking lot (we do have the largest campus in the nation at 18,000 acres) or some sort of parking garage. Answers have ranged from budget issues, to it makes you tougher to walk a mile to your car (uphill both ways), but the reason with the most credibility has been that there is an endangered field mouse living around the Academy grounds. This special mouse, Preble's mouse, is specific to the front range and can jump up to three feet in the air. The mouse has been on the threatened species list since 1998, and has prevented substantial infrastructure projects in Colorado and Wyoming.

Even my Civil Engineering teacher 3-dig year convinced me that the only reason it is such a hassle to get to the parking lot was because of this mouse. This may just be the cadet rumor mill, but I've also heard that USAA has repeatedly offered USAFA funding to build a parking garage for cadet vehicles because it would save them money from all of the hail damage they have to pay for.

It is now off of the threatened species list in Wyoming, and on January 27th Colorado officials will be meeting to discuss whether or not to remove Preble's mouse from the threatened species list. What will this mean for the Academy? Will a new parking garage be made close to the cadet dorms?! Only time will tell, but my money's on that even if there are plentiful amounts of mice there will be a new excuse why there won't be anything built.