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Parking at the Ralph


tnt

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The parking issue is UND not the Ralph. All parking lots on campus will now enforce regular parking passes (S, H, A, G) until 10 PM. People without passes will be ticketed (I don't know about any towing). They talked about doing this last year in the middle of the season but decided to wait. People without parking passes will be allowed to park in the big lot by Memorial Stadium or the lot behind Tabula for $5 per game or $65 for the year. Lot attendants will have daily passes available and I think they will also have the season passes. Season passes are also available at Barnes and Noble. My guess is that the reason for this is 2 fold, to help pay the cost of the shuttles and to raise money (possibly for the move up??).

Bottom line is that if you are a student, staff, faculty or have a regular campus parking pass you just use that. If you don't have one of those you will have to pay to use either of those lots and are not allowed to park in any other UND lot, including the Nursing school.

I think that is a crappy policy. Nickle and diming people to death.

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In my opinion, this is the crappiest decision ever by the athletic department. I wouldn't mind paying for parking at the site but to pay $5 to take a GD shuttle bus because there is not adaquate parking at the arena is pathetic. We need to find out who is responsible for this decision and let him know directly what we think. I hope that loyal Sioux fans don't just roll over and take this. This nickle and dime crap needs to stop. Once again the average fan gets stuck.

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In my opinion, this is the crappiest decision ever by the athletic department. I wouldn't mind paying for parking at the site but to pay $5 to take a GD shuttle bus because there is not adaquate parking at the arena is pathetic. We need to find out who is responsible for this decision and let him know directly what we think. I hope that loyal Sioux fans don't just roll over and take this. This nickle and dime crap needs to stop. Once again the average fan gets stuck.

Not trying to be on the other side of the fence on this one, but when you look at the big picture of things, people are getting to park in lots reasonably close to the arena for $65/season, or $5/game. You get close to 20 games(if not more) for your $65 and they drop you off at the main door. That's closer than the $10 you need to pay to park at Suite 49 for $10/game. Yes, it may be a pinch on some people's budget. But when you figure the number of people that use those lots to park there every game, that gets to be a lot of wear and tear on the parking lots listed than there would normally be if there was no REA. Somebody needs to pay for it, it might as well be the people that use it IMO.

You could also park on a side street and walk to REA in the cold too. Whatever floats your boat. I just think it's a fair deal. Either that, or pony up some major money to park in the main lots around REA.

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In my opinion, this is the crappiest decision ever by the athletic department. I wouldn't mind paying for parking at the site but to pay $5 to take a GD shuttle bus because there is not adaquate parking at the arena is pathetic. We need to find out who is responsible for this decision and let him know directly what we think. I hope that loyal Sioux fans don't just roll over and take this. This nickle and dime crap needs to stop. Once again the average fan gets stuck.

I doubt that the Athletic Department had much to do with this. According to the press release, the UND traffic office issued the notice. Athletics just passed on the information. The traffic office controls the parking lots. Parking has been an issue on campus for as long as I remember, that's why they are building the ramp. As someone else suggested, at least part of this decision is probably to help pay for upkeep on some lots that take a lot of abuse.

Paying for parking is a fact of life in most places. Have you tried to find a free parking spot in the Twin Cities for an event? The Alerus Center is going to start charging for parking in 2007. I think that another part of big city living has arrived in Grand Forks.

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Not trying to be on the other side of the fence on this one, but when you look at the big picture of things, people are getting to park in lots reasonably close to the arena for $65/season, or $5/game. You get close to 20 games(if not more) for your $65 and they drop you off at the main door. That's closer than the $10 you need to pay to park at Suite 49 for $10/game. Yes, it may be a pinch on some people's budget. But when you figure the number of people that use those lots to park there every game, that gets to be a lot of wear and tear on the parking lots listed than there would normally be if there was no REA. Somebody needs to pay for it, it might as well be the people that use it IMO.

You could also park on a side street and walk to REA in the cold too. Whatever floats your boat. I just think it's a fair deal. Either that, or pony up some major money to park in the main lots around REA.

I understand what you are saying , but to enforce a "permit only" lot that no students or faculty are parking in and their is no shuttle that runs from that lot to the arena is ridiculous. This is going to have more people parking East of Columbia on the side streets.

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Okay.

Here is what I have been told by the parking office in numerous meetings/information sessions. For the last few years, people without a permit could park on campus after 5pm. In addition, sports fans could park in the Memorial Stadium lot for free and take the University provided shuttle to sporting events. All of this "traffic" adds to the regular wear and tear of the lots. How does the parking office/university fund the repair of the lots? By charging students more money in parking permit rates and/or parking ticket fines. This seemed unfair to the parking office (and to me, actually) to have students pay for damage that wasn't completely done by students. So, now the lots are patrolled for permits until 10pm. **On a sidebar, there are a lot of students whose programs only offer classes in the evening, including the grad program I am in, so these folks were able to get an entire degree from UND and park on campus without paying for a permit, something students in other programs don't have the luxury of doing**.

I believe the $5 charge for folks to park in Memorial and Tabula parking lot is just another way to keep the costs for students down by raising money for the parking office.

That was also one of the main reasons given for building the parking ramp--using it as a means to raise money. We shall see if they continue to charge $5 to park in Memorial and Tabula after the parking ramp is completed...

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The Suite (whatever#) bar located just northeast of The Ralph ran a parking deal most of last year wherein you pay $10 to park in their lot, and then after the game turn in your parking pass for $10 credit toward hors d' oeurves, alcohol, etc. Don't know if they still do it.

Yes, they are still offering the $10 parking at Suite 49. Pay $10 and get a $10 voucher to use inside for drinks/apps/etc before or after the game. However, less parking than last year, as we used the land to the east for parking, and now some strip mall is being built there.

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Yes, they are still offering the $10 parking at Suite 49. Pay $10 and get a $10 voucher to use inside for drinks/apps/etc before or after the game. However, less parking than last year, as we used the land to the east for parking, and now some strip mall is being built there.

This is all I need to know, thank you. Now, I hope it doesn't fill up too quickly. I'd like to get there between 6 and 6:15pm on Saturday for a 7:07pm start...

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This is all I need to know, thank you. Now, I hope it doesn't fill up too quickly. I'd like to get there between 6 and 6:15pm on Saturday for a 7:07pm start...

With the size of the lot, I'd say you probably would want to get there by 6pm at the absolute latest for a Saturday night game. 6pm might not even be early enough. That place fills up quick when hockey is going on, a lot of people show up early, eat dinner, drink beers, and watch other sports before wandering over to the Ralph. Just a friendly piece of advice. Take it for what it's worth.

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If they want to charge a reasonable fee for parking that's ok by me. If it goes for more parking great.

But dont' tell me that it's "wear and tear" on the parking lots. Most damage is from weather not by being used.

I don't understand why having 500-1000(?) cars on a particular parking lot for 5-6 days a week for 9-10 months out of the year would not cause "wear and tear" on a particular lot. Granted, it may not be the leading cause of UND charging for parking, but it definitely has some validity behind it. Who pays for the gas/diesel that the buses use each night? It comes out of someone's pocket. UND might as well defer some of the costs to the people that are actually using the system. I would be doing the same thing if I were UND. If people wanna complain about the prices and want to park on the side roads east of Columbia, they still are going to have to walk to the arena. Have fun walking in December/January/February.

Bottom Line: Don't complain on a message board where no one on here has any idea, for the most part, why they are implementing the fee or what they are doing with the money. Go to the horse's mouth.

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