[Bnc-faculty-all-list] Birck Parking, New Constructions

[Shakouri, Ali]

Dear Colleagues,

DP learned in mid December that Purdue Physical Facilities has decided not to move forward with the planned parking lot south of Birck, which was supposed to alleviate parking problems with the additional construction. Tomas sent an email right away on Dec. 19. We didn’t receive any feedback in January, so I followed up with VP for Physical Facilities (see below my email on Jan. 26).

Last Friday, we received the construction map (see attached). According to the current plans, Marshall Dr. will be closed and we will loose most of the existing parking west of Birck after Feb. 28th. Car access to Birck will be very limited. The only parking for the whole Discovery Park will be south of Discovery Learning Center and I assume this will limit student C parking further south of this parking lot as well. This will affect us not only during the construction period (until mid 2020 or so); there are no other plans for a Purdue parking near us in the near future.

I know having nearby parking is considered as a luxury and some refer to the limited parking in the main campus as a new norm we should get used to. The challenge is that all of our faculty need to go back and forth to teach classes and participate in administrative meetings. We are supposed to be a convening place that brings different disciplines together.

In order to come up with short term and long term parking solutions, we need input from faculty. For resident faculty, could you send Jaime (jjturner at purdue.edu<mailto:jjturner at purdue.edu>) times and days of the week when you need to drive back and forth for teaching and/or committee/department meetings this semester? If you are not a resident faculty, please indicate times/days you drive to Birck.

Once we have all of the data, we plan to organize a town hall meeting with Physical Facilities ASAP. Please let us know if you have any other suggestions or comments.

Best regards,
Ali




-----Original Message-----
From: Shakouri, Ali <shakouri at purdue.edu<mailto:shakouri at purdue.edu>>
Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2019 9:13 AM
To: Cline, Michael B <mbcline at purdue.edu<mailto:mbcline at purdue.edu>>
Subject: Re: Parking

Mike,

Following Tomas’ email on December 19th, I didn’t receive any communication about the plans for the parking next to Birck. In our brief discussion yesterday, you mentioned about a new surface parking lot that was added recently at the intersection of Russel and State and, if needed, evaluation of additional bus services. I can’t imagine how these could help alleviate significant reduction in the number of parking spaces with the construction of Aspire building and the addition of a brand new Flex Lab in Discovery Park. You also mentioned that you don’t know all of the details and there is a meeting next week with Jeremy Slater who should have more information.

I am extremely disappointed by the process and how little information is shared with key stakeholders at Birck, Bindley and others in DP. We have 55 resident faculty, 200 resident graduate students and an additional 300 users of the facility that need to go back and forth to academic units for classes and meetings. We are trying hard to create a welcoming atmosphere and serve broadest number of users who come from 15 different academic units spread across campus. These include faculty and students from colleges of engineering, science, polytechnic, pharmacy, agriculture, health and human services, and veterinary medicine. University has made significant investment to bring state-of-the-art tools and create a community at the intersection of different disciplines. We have regular seminars and meetings where we invite broader Purdue community to come together to develop centers of excellence focused on societal grand challenges. Recently, several faculty have complained to me that to come to a one-hour meeting at Birck, not only they should spend 20 minutes to drive back and forth but another 15-20 min to find parking space and walk.

I would like to request that a public meeting is organized as soon as possible so that our faculty, students and staff have an opportunity to hear university plans for the parking and are able to provide their comments and feedback. If we don’t provide an opportunity to hear from stakeholders at least 6 months before any modifications are implemented, this does not show a good faith that university is caring about the opinion of those who feel their operation will be significantly impacted.

Thanks in advance for your attention to this important matter.

Sincerely yours,
Ali


Ali Shakouri
Mary Jo and Robert L. Kirk Director
Professor of  Electrical and Computer Engineering Birck Nanotechnology Center, Room 1027 Purdue University
1205 West State Street
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2057
(765) 496-6105; Fax: (765) 496-8299
shakouri at purdue.edu<mailto:shakouri at purdue.edu>



-----Original Message-----
From: Diaz de la Rubia, Tomas J <tddlr at purdue.edu<mailto:tddlr at purdue.edu>>
Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2018 6:28 PM
To: Michal, Richard J. <RJMichal at prf.org<mailto:RJMichal at prf.org>>
Cc: Wojtalewicz, Clifford J. <cliffw at purdue.edu<mailto:cliffw at purdue.edu>>; Garimella, Suresh V
<garimell at purdue.edu<mailto:garimell at purdue.edu>>; Shakouri, Ali <shakouri at purdue.edu<mailto:shakouri at purdue.edu>>; Brown,
Donna J <brown746 at purdue.edu<mailto:brown746 at purdue.edu>>; Muncy, Lisa A. <lamuncy at purdue.edu<mailto:lamuncy at purdue.edu>>
Subject: Parking

Dear Rich,

I trust this email finds you well, and hopefully almost ready for enjoying and relaxing a bit during the holiday season.

Yesterday, Cliff brought to my attention a change in plans relative to parking near the Brick and Bindley buildings of Discovery Park. My understanding is that the plan to build a 300 car surface lot has been scrapped and instead there is now a plan to add A spaces to the lot south of HDLR. Not sure I have all the details correct, but the general issue and trend worries me. Bindley and Birck faculty, as Ali points out, often go back and forth to campus to teach and fulfil other duties. In the absence of a transportation system, they drive. Obviously, having an “A” parking spot near the office is convenient and adds to the quality of life at Discovery Park. Along with the research environment, it quality of life and the welcoming environment that we have tried to provide, are, I believe, the key ingredients that have encouraged faculty and their students to flock to DP, resulting in very significant research and education growth at Purdue.

I’d be most interested in learning more from you as to the plans for addressing this relatively small, but important issue to our constituents, the faculty and students of Purdue.

I’m on my way to Spain with the family for the holidays, so perhaps we can get together or chat on the phone after campus starts back up on Jan 7. I’m copying Lisa so we can coordinate a time.

Cheers,
Tomas


Tomás Díaz de la Rubia, Ph.D.
Vice President for Discovery Park
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Mobile: (925)324-4378
http://www.purdue.edu/discoverypark

Sent from my iPad

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