Green parking not ready, program launch coming soon

 The Green Car Preferred parking program is not quite ready. The signs signifying the green parking spots are up and the list of approved cars is available online, but on Sept. 25 the Green Car Parking signs at the Rio Grande campus were covered with plastic bags.  

"The tentative date for opening the spots for use is early November, but that is subject to change," said Andy Kim. 

For now, only the ACC staff can use the allotted spots, and any students found parking there will receive a fine.

Five parking spaces are reserved for fuel efficient and low emission cars in the parking lot adjoining the Annex on the Rio Grande campus. Other ACC campuses will have between five and ten spaces.  

Due to ACC's desire for every campus to start the program at the same time, the parking spaces are not available for use at this moment according to Marilyn Lee-Taylor, the Rio Grande Campus Manager. 

Once the program gets started, students and staff alike will soon be able to park in specially designated spaces if they drive a fuel-efficient, low emissions vehicle.  

"ACC prides itself on environmental friendliness. We encourage people to try every means possible to help keep our environment clean," Taylor said. "In addition to these parking spaces, car pooling, bicycling, walking, or taking the bus are also highly encouraged. The parking spaces are a way we can encourage people to choose an environmentally friendly car."

"The parking spaces are an incentive. I believe they are the start of something that needed to be done in the first place," according to Tanya Hainey, a student at the Rio Grand campus. 

ACC hopes this will be a reward for the environmentally conscious according to Taylor.

Taylor warns students not to park in the green parking spots until they get a special permit from the cashier's office which will be available in early November. A list of cars that qualify for green car parking passes is available on ACC's sustainability Web page.