Fewer affordable parking spots at Indiana University after parking lot closure

June 14, 2021; Bloomington, Indiana: The parking lot between 11th Street and Cottage Grove Ave. is permanently closed, and surrounded by a fence, to make way for “green space.” (Photo by Jeremy Hogan/The Bloomingtonian)

Indiana University will have 250 fewer affordable parking spots beginning today. The parking lot between 11^th Street and Cottage Grove Ave. is permanently closed to make way for “green space.” The lot was fenced off Monday.

The Indiana University board of trustees voted unanimously for the change:

https://news.iu.edu/stories/2020/12/iu/inside/04-construction-projects-approved-for-bloomington-iupui-campuses.html

However, many rank and file IU employees pay hundreds of dollars per year for parking while they work. The EM-S parking spots in the closed lot were costing workers around 20 dollars per month, but alternative EM-P spots cost around 50-dollars per month. The closed lot was mostly EM-S spots, which are in extremely short supply at IU, so parking fees for many will more than double. The new garage being constructed nearby is for informatics, but the bottom three floors are the more expensive EM-P spots, not EM-S spots.

Here is a link with more details about parking rates:

https://parking.indiana.edu/permits/permit-rates.html?fbclid=IwAR2Xxb___y-hC7yzwjgw9pe_h85AxMzMP3ZLBsa716b1GiSkk_C8W1ZBSWM

The Bloomingtonian stopped by to make a few photos of the fence, and the lot and noticed a truck parked alongside the lot already had a parking ticket Monday.

Parking has been in short supply at the university for years, while the institution has been tearing up parking lots to construct new buildings. Meanwhile, many of the workers at IU commute from places outside the city due to Bloomington’s sky-high real estate and rent prices.

Indiana does not have viable public transportation outside a few buses in some cities, so the problem is unlikely to be corrected any time soon. Bloomington buses do not operate very far outside the city.

Some cicadas’ offspring in the trees crossing the lot may also want to find another place to live, the new plan doesn’t show that the current trees in the lot will remain. Cicadas survive for 17 years underground on the roots of trees.