Opinion
 

Staff Editorial

                            Matt Dulin                             Tony Hernandez 
                Jim Parsons             Dusti Rhodes           Richard Whitrock

Welcome?

A memorandum sent one week ago by a University administrator outlines a new method of handling visitors to the UH campus -- but it may not make the best first impression.

Groups that arrive by bus for functions in the vicinity of Entrance 1 were previously able to load and unload along Entrance 1 and the circular drive in front of the Cullen Performance Hall. But the memo, from Vice President for Administration and Finance John Rudley, stipulates that such groups will now be sent to Parking Lot 5B, behind the Moody Towers on the southeast side of campus.

The reason for the change, Rudley wrote, is congestion along Entrance 1 during large events at the University Center and Cullen Performance Hall. Fair enough -- we all know that Entrance 1 can be busy at times, what with visitors arriving at the University Hilton, people picking one another up at the UC and ubiquitous parking shuttle buses making their never-ending loops.

But the caravans of buses will likely still enter the campus via University Drive, just as they would if headed for Entrance 1. And now, they'll use Calhoun Road and the two-lane Wheeler Avenue, where back-ups may occur as the buses turn into the driveway that leads to Lot 5B.

Visitors will then have to walk from the parking lot past the outdoor swimming pool and through Lynn Eusan Park to get to the performance hall or the UC. It's a pleasant enough walk if the weather is nice, but in the heat of the summer or on a cold, rainy winter day, it won't be so great.

Decreasing traffic on Entrance 1 seems to be a good idea, but the new policy won't necessarily keep "the entrance and exit lanes to the University ... free from congestion," as Rudley wrote in the memo. Instead, it could create a new set of problems.

At least those pesky visitors won't be sullying the landscape of Entrance 1.