In October, journalism professor Kathryn Kuttis asked 300 of her J100 students to tweet about parking at the University of Oregon as a way of allowing them to express their concerns with the system.

Using the hashtag #ipayforitbuthey, students revealed their frustrations with parking at the university, bringing up the lack of available parking spaces and the high cost of parking meters.

“I wanted to give them a voice,” Kuttis said.

Kuttis, who pays three to four hundred dollars a year for her parking pass, has had her own negative experiences with parking. She received a ticket for not displaying her pass in her car and hasn’t been notified through e-mail of events held by the university that interfere with finding a parking spot said.

“As a communications professor, it’s important,” Kuttis said of the lack of notifications.

According to Gwendolyn Bolden, Director of Parking and Transportation, the university has about 4,100 parking spots, but has lost some due to the ongoing construction taking place on campus. However, the spaces are expected to be replaced before the next large scale construction project. Bolden also believes that parking conditions have improved since last year.

“We have more users following the rules, so parking is writing less citations and selling more parking permits. We will continue to seek out alternative forms of transportation,” Bolden said.

Bolden confirmed that there have been complaints about not enough parking spaces on campus. However, she also stated that the university will replace parking along the perimeter of campus and not in the center.

In regards to complaints about Parking and Transportation’s lack of communication about upcoming events, Bolden stated that all upcoming events that have the potential to affect parking are listed on the department’s website. Advanced notices are also places at the entrance of the area being affected.

Like Kathryn Kuttis, School of Journalism and Communication intern Karly Tarsia is frustrated by on-campus parking. Though Tarsia bought a parking pass in order to have easy access to the building she works in, she hasn’t been able to find any open parking spots in her designated lot.

Bolden said that Parking and Transportation is working to improve the system by partnering with regional transit and is looking to “enhance the alternative transportation options” such as car share, bike share and EMX buses.

According to Tarsia, when she went to the Parking and Transportation office she was told that there wasn’t anything they could do. She was also told to park in a lot four blocks away from where she works and to take the EMX to work.

“If I am paying for a permit I should have a spot, no questions asked,” Tarsia said. “The fact [that] I don’t and have to move my car every two hours to find parking is unreal.”

With the university having outgrown their current food preparation facilities, an upgraded kitchen is set to open this coming spring in the middle of east campus.

David Opp-Beckman, Capital Projects Manager for Housing Facilities, said the new 22,000 square foot central kitchen and woodshop will be located on Columbia Street between 19th and 17th Avenue. It will allow for the preparation of larger quantities of food at one time, and give more opportunity for the use of local and fresh products in dishes.

“Food service just keeps growing and we get more products, more opportunities to be able to put products out there,” Director of Food Service, Tom Driscoll said of the project.

The larger kitchen will also allow university dining to produce enough food to satisfy the student body. According to Opp-Beckman, the project will be LEED-gold certified and will allow for consumption of 35 percent less energy than the Oregon energy code requires.

“It will allow us to use more modern technology in a modern kitchen and facility,” Director of University Housing Michael Griffel said.

The current central kitchen is located in the basement of Carson Hall and was originally designed in 1945 prior to its opening in February of 1950.

Construction of the new central kitchen is funded by $8.5 million from University Housing cash reserves. According to Griffel, the new kitchen will also bring together food preparation and catering staff.

Roughly one hundred out of the 400 catering and dining student staff members will work in the new central kitchen when it opens.

“We’re able to get some new equipment, some new bakery ovens, it will allow us to bake things more on time [and] be fresher,” Driscoll said.

Another benefit of the new central kitchen, according to Griffel, is that dining will now have more space and equipment to prepare food. This will allow for dining to have more control over what ingredients go into food products and allow for the use of more local and fresh food.

Opp-Beckman also stated that three students studying architecture were employed by housing and helped develop early plans for the project.

The woodshop portion of the project is also likely to help revitalize the student carpentry program, according to Opp-Beckman. The old campus woodshop was once located on the site where the woodshop and central kitchen are now being built until it was demolished about a year ago.

The university has a large maintenance and carpentry staff that build and repair furniture. University Housing is also looking to potentially hire students to help with summer carpentry projects once the central woodshop and kitchen open this spring.