Editor:
Michell Cook, who wrote the Nov. 1 letter to the editor, “Officials Provide Unrealistic Alternatives,” is just one of a parade of students that complain, complain, complain about the lack of parking at the University of Utah and the lack of alternatives.
The fact of the matter is that she (and the others) should smell what is coming out of her own tailpipe and do something about it.
Students who don’t live close to the U should examine other possibilities besides driving.
These include biking, busing, looking for a place to live near public transportation or near the U and finding work compatible with transportation issues.
There are also a lot of places to park for free in Salt Lake City that have excellent bus service to the U. Another alternative is to chuck your bike in your car and ride in or (gasp) walk a mile or two.
As an undergraduate, I lived near the U. As a graduate student, I rode my bike and occasionally the free bus (usually when the air quality was too bad to ride my bike).
Cook should know that Salt Lake City has tremendous air quality problems that will not be overcome by thousands of lonesome commuters.
There are undoubtedly some students that cannot make such arrangements, but I would bet they are far more rare than those that can. Solutions take time and energy.
Chris Pond, Doctorate student, Pharmacology