FGCU students upset over game day parking

FORT MYERS, Fla.- “We were here before ‘Dunk City’. We were here before all the lights and all the cameras so we should be treated that way,” said Kelli Krebs, FGCU student and North Lake Village resident.

Students are outraged–saying the university is putting basketball before them.

“We pay tuition. We pay housing… We pay a lot for housing, you know, we should be allowed to park in front of our building where we live.” said Krebs.

Every home basketball game around 600 students who live in North Lake Village on campus have to find somewhere else to park. They say they’re essentially being kicked out to make room for fans. But school officials say it’s the only option.

“We knew the fan base was going to pick up so we needed to find more parking but the problem we face, and it’s a good problem to have, is we have 4,500 people coming to an arena that has about 700 parking spaces so the math just doesn’t work,” said Chief Steven Moore of the University Police Department.

Six hundred students have to move their cars but the on campus housing areas they’re allowed to park in only have room for about 150 of those 600 cars–leaving the rest to park more than a mile away.

“On game days it gets really packed you see people start parking on corners of grass,” said Chris Duarte, FGCU student.

“Obviously people say it would be nice if they built a garage out there but I don’t see that in the immediate future that would be millions of dollars for something that would be used about 17-18 times a year,” said Chief Moore.

Students have also suggested a shuttle take fans to and from parking garages. Chief Moore says that would cost between $10,000 to $20,000 per game but some students say the university should foot that bill.