With North Quad construction temporarily reducing the number of available parking spaces around campus, employees and students at CMC have gotten noticeably creative in finding new nooks and crannies in which to park. On a recent Wednesday morning in the main parking lot east of Bauer North, about a dozen cars overloaded the lot, wedged into various spaces including narrow lot corners, alongside curbed planters, and in one instance, partially blocking two trash bins, interrupting traffic flow for motorists turning left to access the southern-most row of parking.

But don’t count on Campus Safety to overlook inventive parking. "They’re not going to be any more lenient about ticketing even with the current impact on available spaces,” says Jose Huezo, assistant director of facilities and campus services. In fact curbs in the eastern Bauer lot soon will be painted red, at which time employees or students may be ticketed for parking in front of them, he said.

In all, CMC has 897 parking spaces across campus and when parking spaces are taken out of service, such as “we now have at North Quad, we experience a heavy crunch that ultimately results in fewer convenient parking spaces,” says facilities and campus services director Tim Lopez. “Fortunately this doesn’t occur very often, but it does require behavior modification and patience,” he says.

As a general reminder, Lopez says CMC employees and students should be aware that:

• The city of Claremont issues tickets for violators in handicapped-designated spaces and fire lanes. Vehicles may also be towed and stored at the owner’s expense.

• CMC parking generally operates on a first-come, first-serve basis.

• The city of Claremont does not permit overnight parking on city streets.

• As a general rule, faculty and staff of one campus are invited to park in faculty/staff/student lots of another campus. Exceptions are posted. "Just as we expect others to respect our postings, we in turn should respect theirs," Lopez says. Violators of any posted signs can be, and are, cited by Campus Safety and each campus is responsible for enforcing citations, he says.

• Emergency telephones are installed at the Bauer North and Sixth & Mills parking lots. These lots also are under video surveillance, which is monitored by Campus Safety when school is in session.