Parking lots 20C and 20A will close until March 23 for Frontier Fiesta.
Parking and Transportation Services recommends that students take advantage of parking at the Energy Research Park and use the free Cougar Line shuttle service to get to campus. The Cougar Trax smartphone app can calculate estimated times of arrival for each shuttle and can be accessed at www.uh.edu/cougartraxmobile.
Correction: The Welcome Center parking garage will not be open for all students to park during Frontier Fiesta. We originally stated that it would be.
Large portions of Lots 20A and 20C have closed off for Frontier Fiesta and will remain closed until the event ends Sunday evening.
The largest school event of the year at UH requires a big space, and since Robertson Stadium was torn down in 2012, Frontier Fiesta has moved to the parking lot areas across from the LeRoy and Lucile Melcher Hall.
“Right now the parking lot is a good temporary spot for Frontier Fiesta as the stadium construction happens,” said Brandon Blue, operations director with Frontier Fiesta.
“It’s traditionally at the stadium. While that is being constructed, we are at this parking lot, because it is a really good central spot right next to Spur 5; the entrance to the University is right there. It allows students to see (Fiesta) as they drive in.”
The lot closures were staggered as construction on Frontier Fiesta began. Phase 1 began on March 7, phase 2 began on March 14 and the largest swath of parking will close today. Lot 21B will be free, but both lots will be completely open Sunday when Frontier Fiesta packs up.
With those lots closed, the question of where students may park rises.
UH Parking and Transportation urges students to park at the Energy Research Park. More parking spots have opened for Frontier Fiesta, and campus shuttles will routinely take students from the ERP to campus. The East Garage will be open after 5 p.m. Thursday.
Parking and Transportation further recommends arriving on campus earlier in order to find parking space on campus, following @UHTraffic on Twitter in order to get traffic and parking updates and carpooling with another student or employee.
This is the second consecutive year that Frontier Fiesta has been housed at this lot, and complaints rose in 2013 from students because of the loss of already-scarce parking on campus. This year, students have similar complaints.
“Looking at it from others’ point of view, it’s just going to bring more traffic in — it’s not going to solve anything,” said biology junior Alolika Sarkar. “The traffic issue is going to be worse than it is. It’s Frontier Fiesta — it’s already an event, and if you do it on a parking lot, that just jumbles it up.”
The increase in traffic from non-UH visitors has provided issues for some students as well.
“I drive here, and it takes me an hour to find parking sometimes; it’s insane how much traffic there is if you’re just circling around and around, and people are lining up on the side,” said management information systems senior Iris Martinez.
Despite students’ concerns, Frontier Fiesta will continue to make use of campus lots as the festival kicks off Thursday.
Why do I have to rearrange my life so that a bunch of frat boys can get drunk and act stupid? This is ridiculous. I pay to park on campus, and it’s indignating to have to choose between going to work or missing class because there aren’t any parking spots. We pay to come to school for an education — not to host a party that hinders our ability to attend courses that we break our backs working to pay for. Why does TPAC oversell the parking permits, and why does the Frontier Fiesta board not decide to host the event somewhere else, such as the empty lot — the former Fingers warehouse — across 45 and arrange for a special frontier fiesta shuttle for students to attend the event rather then interfering with our abilities to park and attend class? I think TPAC and Frontier Fiesta need to answer to the student body and give us an actual explanation as to why we have to be force fed the event — especially to those of unable to attend the event due to conflicts with work or school.
preach it, papi.
Frontier Fiesta is a vendor that pays for the lot, just as any other event pays Auxiliary Services for large event spaces, and they pay over $20,000 for it. The school isn’t force-feeding it to you, they are providing a form of entertainment they hope you can enjoy, the only way they are physically able (no other space on campus, since the demolition of the stadium, would have been able to support the size of the event this year; the fingers lot absolutely would not have). If you feel the event doesn’t respect your voice and opinions, have you tried reaching out to them with suggestions (besides merely deleting the event from it’s 75 year history)? I’d wager to bet from your post that you weren’t able to go this year, so how do you know that there weren’t thousands of students who did go who had a great time supporting the UH community and raising money for scholarships to receive the education you seem to be so aggressively defending. I’m sorry if I seem inflamatory Mark, but I feel as if your post is close-minded and selfish, and doesn’t do justice to the amount of work the hundreds of students involved put into Frontier Fiesta by offering quick, unjustified, solutions to some very legitimate problems you point out.
>Frontier Fiesta is a vendor that pays for the lot, just as any other event pays Auxiliary Services for large event spaces, and they pay over $20,000 for it.
That still doesn’t answer the question: why do students have to be inconvenienced by a “75 year old tradition” that — outside of concerts — caters itself to Greek life? Why does TPAC oversell parking permits, knowing that there will be such an event held on one of the biggest commuter lots?
>The school isn’t force-feeding it to you, they are providing a form of entertainment they hope you can enjoy, the only way they are physically able (no other space on campus, since the demolition of the stadium, would have been able to support the size of the event this year; the fingers lot absolutely would not have).
How is that not force feeding? The school is inconveniencing the students by depriving them of parking slots for a hefty $20,000. Not every student can afford to park in the garage, and I’d wager to bet that you probably do. Driving around, looking for parking spots for over an hour for an entire week in the middle of testing season isn’t exactly kosher. The Fingers lot suggestion was just that — a suggestion. Building an entire argument on a suggestion and claiming that it’s being unfair to the work of “hundreds” of students is quite close minded in itself.
>If you feel the event doesn’t respect your voice and opinions, have you tried reaching out to them with suggestions (besides merely deleting the event from it’s 75 year history)?
Where does Frontier Fiesta even hold their board meetings, and are they open to the public? And if so, why isn’t this more transparent?
>I’d wager to bet from your post that you weren’t able to go this year, so how do you know that there weren’t thousands of students who did go who had a great time supporting the UH community and raising money for scholarships to receive the education you seem to be so aggressively defending.
By golly, let me put on my UH cape and head straight to Frontier Fiesta and deal with those infidels who don’t love this university. I was actually there for the concerts (yes, all three nights), so that’s that.
>I’m sorry if I seem inflamatory Mark, but I feel as if your post is close-minded and selfish, and doesn’t do justice to the amount of work the hundreds of students involved put into Frontier Fiesta by offering quick, unjustified, solutions to some very legitimate problems you point out.
Well, to be fair, this IS the last year that Frontier Fiesta will be held on one of the biggest commuter lots in the university. The premise of your argument seems to be that I’m offering “quick, unjustified, solutions” to the problem instead of legitimate ones. However, that’s not the case. I never offered the Fingers lot suggestion as a solution. That may not have worked (as you pointed out). It was a suggestion. I could have just as well suggested that the festival be held on TSU or, I don’t know, Rice. That would not have been any more valid than the Fingers lot suggestion. It was an example used to show that there ARE other ways to hold the festival, at the very least near campus, instead of inconveniencing those of us who pay to park on campus. What I WAS arguing was that TPAC and the Frontier Fiesta board need to answer to the students when it comes to problems such as these that cause students to be highly inconvenienced.