Students can start signing up this Wednesday for a lottery in which 40 parking spots in the University Downtown Center’s adjacent parking lot will be made available.

Students at the UDC have complained that the lot ‘ which was originally designed to accommodate faculty, staff and disabled students ‘ often has open parking spaces.

The parking lot is usually gated, with access only available to those with pass-card access. However, the gate has been left open at times since the start of the semester to allow people to exit, granting some students entrance to the lot.

‘I had building guards going out once an hour for several weeks counting spaces, and, of course, the lot was almost 100 percent full in those times,’ said Deputy Chief of University Police Dan Chambers. ‘We looked at it, though, and figured we can take a chance and fit about 40 spaces available to commuter students for the Downtown campus.’

Chambers hopes students will carpool and share rides. ‘It’s 40 parking spaces, not 40 people,’ he said.

Registration for the lottery will start Oct. 17 and will continue until 5 p.m. on Oct. 24. The actual drawing will take place on Oct. 25.

Since the fall semester is already half-finished, the parking passes for this lottery will last until May. Subsequent semesters will have their own lottery.

Currently for parking, students have the option of purchasing a $40-per-semester permit at the Water Street Ramp, located approximately three blocks away from the Center. The permit ‘ which is separate from the $71 parking permit for the University’s Vestal campus ‘ puts the students in what they feel is unsafe territory, they said. Some students said the garage ‘ which is owned by a private company, not the University ‘ is also inconvenient.

Student concerns about safety heightened after a student was assaulted and robbed in September while walking across the South Washington Street bridge to her car after a night class at the UDC. Students at the UDC have complained that they have felt left out in the overall planning of the Center. University officials, however, say that the student body was consulted, through committees like the Personal Safety Advisory Committee.

‘That [the PSAC] was one of the avenues that we used in setting up the safety and security measures at the UDC,’ said Gail Glover, University spokeswoman. ‘The PSAC are now taking concerns, suggestions and issues from students who are down there, who wish to take a look at the current parking and safety situation, and offer their input.’

Glover believes that students will see the best results if they voice their concerns through the PSAC.

‘Utilizing that committee that already exists is the way to go,’ Glover said. ‘That’s why we’re encouraging faculty and staff and students, and anybody that has issues, concerns ideas and suggestions to funnel them through that committee that already exists.’