New Garage Ups Parking Charges

"That parking costs will go up next year is a certainty if the new garage on Broadway is built," Harold Goyette, director of the University Planning Office, said yesterday. "But the specific amount of the rise in cost has not yet been determined."

Yesterday the Harvard Gazette announced that the President and Fellows have authorized architects to begin plans for a $2 million parking garage on Broadway and Felton Streets.

Samuel Gilfix of the Planning Office said he was "shocked" to see the Gazette's "misleading" article, whichreported that an annual increase of $30 per space in costs for students, faculty, and employees would result from the construction.

According to Gilfix, Harvard would not charge a flat rate increase for persons using University parking. He said that the $30 figure is merely an estimated average cost and no official announcement concerning specific cost raises has been made.

Under the present system, individuals pay parking fees according to their status in relation to the University: Faculty members pay $90 a year; Corporation appointees such as senior administrators, $60; Buildings and Grounds and other employees, $40; commuting students, $35; and resident students, $70.

The fee structure is based on such criteria as salary, ability to pay, location of the parking, and need for a car. "Because of the fee structure, a flat rate increase would obviously be inequitable," Goyette said.

According to Goyette, when the parking program was instituted this year, the fact of a probable yearly increase in fee was made clear. Instead of a stabilized parking cost which would build up a reserve of funds, a "minimum fee necessary to pay current cost" has been charged to individuals using University parking.