UAB Parking Deck 1

To: Carol Z. Garrison, President, University of Alabama at Birmingham
To: Hugh S. Gainer, Associate Vice President for Business and Auxiliary Services, UAB
To: Kimberley H. Fort, Director, UAB Parking & Transportation Services
To: Charles Y. Browder, Manager, UAB Parking & Transportation Services

From: The Undersigned UAB Employees who park in UAB Parking Deck 1

Re: The continued inconvenience of the Parking Deck 1 situation,
as related to the construction of the Shelby Biomedical Research Building


We, the undersigned UAB employees who park in Parking Deck 1 on a daily basis, would like to express our displeasure at the current situation regarding Deck 1 and the on-going construction of the Richard and Annette Shelby Biomedical Research Building.

While we understand the need for progress, and believe that the Shelby Building will be a valuable addition to UAB's research facilities when complete, the ongoing construction has made it unsafe and inconvenient for those of us who park on Deck 1. The safety and security of UAB employees parking in Deck 1 has not been sufficiently addressed.

We believe it is unfair that we continue to pay full price ($45 per month for full-time employees) for the "privilege" of parking in Deck 1. At this time, Deck 1 is not a full-featured, safe, and convenient place to park. Our conviction is strengthened by reports that parking fees for full-time employees may rise to $55 per month on October 1. This is not acceptable.

We believe that the full-time employee cost to park in Deck 1 should be reduced by 50\% until such time as the construction of the Shelby Building is complete.

As evidence to support this belief, we offer the following examples of why Deck 1 is not a safe and convenient place for employees to park:

(1) Starting in 2003, several spaces in Deck 1 were removed to make space for a construction office on the first level of the parking facility. This reduces the spaces available to employees.

(2) In May, the sidewalk leading from Deck 1 along the west side of 19th Street to University Blvd was closed. This forces employees leaving Deck 1 to backtrack to 9th Avenue to cross 19th Street; or to jaywalk across 19th Street in the middle of the block. The vast majority of employees choose to illegally cross in the middle of the block, leading to some dangerous near-collisions with cars on 19th Street as well as cars exiting Deck 3. Employees who choose to walk up the block to 9th Avenue often do so along side utility work in the trenches on 19th Street, avoiding clouds of dust and construction debris.

(3) Since May, the asphalt surface of 19th Street has been repeatedly torn up for work on utility lines buried beneath the street. Much of this work has been directly in front of the 19th Street entrance/exit to Deck 1. As a result, large metal plates have been placed over the open trenches in the road. Vehicles and pedestrians entering/exiting Deck 1 have been forced to cross these plates. The metal plates and the other construction debris in the road pose a serious tire hazard to vehicles passing over them.

(4) Beginning July 28, the vehicle entrance/exit on 19th Street was closed for "approximately 10 days," according to signs posted in Deck 1. In addition, the pedestrian ramp exiting Deck 1 was also closed for the same time period. This forces pedestrians exiting Deck 1 to do so through the vehicle lanes onto 19th street. In order to create a pedestrian passageway through Deck 1, approximately five handicapped parking spaces have been blocked off. Replacement handicap parking spaces have been relocated to another area of Deck 1, thus displacing standard parking spaces.

(5) The loss of several parking spaces has been compounded by the construction and utility trucks which are often parked in Deck 1. We assume that the construction personnel parking in Deck 1 do not pay the $45/month charge that UAB employees pay to park here. Yet, these vehicles occupy spaces which would normally be available to paying Deck 1 "residents." This often forces UAB employees to park on the roof level (level 7) of Deck 1. Or, many employees choose not to park their vehicles in the summer sun, instead choosing to drive across the street and pay an additional charge to park in Deck 3.

We strongly encourage the UAB administration and UAB Parking to offer a 50\% parking discount to employees who park in Deck 1. Deck 1 is not currently a convenient, safe, and secure parking facility; why should employees pay full price for it?