The parking crisis here at Austin High School has resulted in many students searching for alternative parking spots. Possibly the most inconvenient lot is the dubbed “Dirt Lot,” which is located under the MoPac highway bridge, and is open to students and trailgoers alike. The majority of the students parking in the “Dirt Lot” are sophomores who currently are not allowed to attain AHS parking passes. Along the dirty, unpaved roads, students can easily spot the pieces of broken glass. Not only is there an excessive amount of smashed bottles, some of the glass on the ground is the remnants of car windows. Recently, on January 20th, Sophomore Finley Perez had her car broken into.
Finley had just finished a long day at school and made her way to her car in the Dirt Lot. She unlocked her car door, unassuming to the robbery that had just taken place. Before she could finish opening her door, Finley spotted the smashed window sitting in the passenger seat. Upon further inspection she realized that her swim bag had been stolen. Her first course of action was to call her dad, the second was to show her friends who had also parked in the Dirt Lot. Finley stated “I was scared that other things would have been taken [or that] this could have happened multiple times and it could have been worse.”
Caroline Strama was one of the first to see the damage to Finley’s car. Caroline has been parking in the Dirt Lot for months and no longer feels safe leaving her stuff there. Caroline noted that it looked like the car next to her had been broken into since there was glass on the floor. “It was really scary,” stated Caroline. “It looked like someone was going on a spree.” While it is societally expected to hide all of your belongings, students and parents feel that there lacks safety measures for students at AHS.
Fortunately, Finley was safe and unharmed, but the security issue at hand still remains. Since the lot isn’t owned by AHS, there isn’t a clear way to bring safety to Dirt Lot parkers. The responsibility of safety extends past the school and onto the students, who need to put every possible safety precaution into place. While this is true, Finley wished that there would have been “more security” in the Dirt Lot. Stay safe out there drivers!
