[Bnc-faculty-all-list] Birck Parking (after March 18)

Fri Mar 15 17:04:17 EDT 2019

Dear Colleagues,

Most of you should have received Tomas’ email on March 4th (~2:18pm) about the Parking at Discovery Park. Beginning next Monday, March 18th, approximately 108 “A” spaces located west of the Birck Nanotechnology Center will no longer be available. Marshall drive will be closed so the only access to Birck will be from south (Gates Rd next to FlexLab). Additionally, on May 20th, approximately another 30 spaces west of Birck will no longer be available.

For “DP Resident faculty and staff” who need to go back and forth between DP and main campus, 45 parking spaces on Jischke Drive, Gates Road and South of Birck building have been reserved (see attached). These parking spaces are numbered from 301 to 346. These spaces are available on a first come first serve basis. You are encouraged to use the Discovery Park parking lot (South of Discovery Learning Center) whenever possible if you do not routinely travel to and from main campus.

·         Eight (8) of the reserved parking spaces will be designated “2 hour” parking for Discovery Park Residential Faculty and Staff, or for Discovery Park visitors. See attached the locations north of Jischke Drive and Gates Road.

·         All 45 spaces will be monitored by Parking Services for compliance and violators will be subject to fines. In order to legally use these spaces, vehicles must have an “A” permit in the system AND Discovery Park users should have already provide their name and Purdue ID # (PUID) through the link in Tomas’ email.

If you have not received Tomas’ email but you are a resident faculty at Birck, please contact Jaime ASAP.

For faculty who are NOT resident in DP but need to attend meetings, thesis defenses or seminars, we definitely want to facilitate easy access. Close collaborations and interactions between researchers at Birck and those at the main campus are essential. Please let Jaime know the date/time when you need to be here and we try our best to reserve a spot nearby.

As you can imagine, having only 45 reserved parking spaces is limited for the whole DP. Cliff is investigating the possibility of a express bus between DP and main campus, you may hear more from him.

Several faculty have discussed about the possibility to write a petition. Tomas and I tried our best and brought up the issue directly with VP for Facilities, EVPRP and Provost. I think it is more effective if you try the proposed solution in the next couple of weeks. If this solution does not work out, please email Jaime and provide feedback about specific issues. If needed, we will be glad to go back to higher administration and explore other possibilities.

Your research productivity is extremely important and we will do our best to make sure we have a vibrant community.

Have a good weekend.
Best regards,

Ali

From: Bnc-faculty-all-list <bnc-faculty-all-list-bounces at ecn.purdue.edu> On Behalf Of Shakouri, Ali
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2019 9:10 AM
To: bnc-faculty-all-list at ecn.purdue.edu
Cc: Reger, Ronald K <rreger at purdue.edu>; Turner, Jaime J <jjbiggs at purdue.edu>; Diaz de la Rubia, Tomas J <tddlr at purdue.edu>; Cox, Erica L <ericacox at purdue.edu>; Voorhis, Mark L. <mvoorhis at purdue.edu>; Wojtalewicz, Clifford J. <cliffw at purdue.edu>; Chen, Yong P <chen276 at purdue.edu>; Jurss, Stephen E <sejurss at purdue.edu>
Subject: Re: [Bnc-faculty-all-list] Birck Parking, New Constructions

Dear Colleagues,

I appreciate very much everybody’s quick follow up. See below couple of your comments summarizing well the impact of the parking.

Cliff and I met with Physical Facilities last week and discussed about the parking spaces west of Birck which will be lost at the end of the month. Their solution has been to convert ~140 C-permit student parking spaces south of Discovery Learning center to A and AB parking. The following viewgraphs summarize these changes:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5gaaiejrx6k2jba/DP_Parking.pptx?dl=0

Facilities is also prepared to expand the City Bus transit route to DP with three stops from the south of HDLR to Armstrong and around the stadium and back (so called 20 minutes express at a cost of $15K/month). We asked if they could participate in a town hall meeting and describe their proposed solutions. Physical facilities was unwilling to participate.

Tomas has brought up the issue with Suresh Garimella and Jay Akridge directly. Meanwhile, we look forward to receive your comments and feedback about the proposed parking solution. Your voice is critical if this is something that will affect your research and productivity.

Best regards,
Ali

******************
A sample of abbreviated faculty feedback:

"Thank you for doing this. The parking situation is a disaster. I have meetings almost every day both in Birck and Morgan and on main campus side.  ...In addition, I have multiple trips in connection with search committees - both for candidates seminars and meetings. And regular school meetings..."

"Actually I usually drive back and forth ... every day of the week.  ...  If I try to come back to Birck later, I cannot find a spot. I find that parking spots are only available if you arrive before 9am in the morning. The reduction in parking will kill productivity. "

“As Im not “in BNC” this may not pertain to me.   However, if parking becomes difficult in the lot South of DLC, Ill likely have to start doing what I did with BME – that is stop going.   Before that parking lot I used to serve on a lot of PhD dissertations and collaborate a bit in BME.   Parking became difficult to I started to tell them it either had to be 1st thing in the morning, last thing in the afternoon or over in main campus.  Now I don’t collaborate with them at all. If something similar happens to BNC with regards to parking, I cannot justify taking 30 min each way to walk or bus over for a meeting.  So either meetings happen on my schedule, they come to me or I do not get involved.  This spiel is meant more for Ali to use to speak with the Dean, EVPR, etc.   I don’t think they understand how collaborations work and that spreading us out across campus combined with a lack of parking imposes time penalties that takes away from other things.  Unfortunately, the more collaboration one does, the more this affects them and so it will limit collaboration.”

“I come to Birck irregularly for seminars and meetings. I actually come fairly infrequently due in part to the difficulties with parking we already have.  Without parking issue, I might be coming for seminars perhaps once every two weeks.”

I need to drive to main campus at least once almost daily ...  Also I drive various candidates ..to show them BRK. … if we spend 20 min finding parking this will add 30-40 min time on the schedule which is almost not feasible in many cases…

I have Labs in Wang Hall and Birck, my graduate students and postdocs have offices in both locations and there are active experiments that utilize the toolsets at both locations. As such losing parking and not getting replacement parking nearby … is a HUGE problem for me and my research group …

This semester - I regularly drive to Birck immediately after my class ends ... (I have to carry a lot of lecture notes and even though I like to walk there is just no way to walk with huge folder of lecture notes for my undergrad class plus the laptop and research notes for lab meeting). ... We also host visitors in the lab - typically every week or so. Some drive themselves and need parking. Having parking for visitors right near Birck was a major advantage for organizing industry visits. There should be at least an increase in short-term parking for visitors and faculty/staff who needs to get in/out of DP to main campus. This is a major issue and will have impact on productivity. I think it’s worth doing some creative, deeper thinking about keeping Discovery Park connected to main campus. May be increase the number of buses? This does not alleviate the lecture notes problem. On the creative side - why don’t we have delivery robots shuttling stuff between buildings/labs? Seriously. this could be a major test bed for this technology, see for example:
https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/22/starship-deploys-autonomous-delivery-bots-on-a-college-campus/ Ali, did you reach out to Provost’s office? They can help facilitate a meeting with Bill Sullivan if this is an issue affecting faculty and academic/research programs.

I have to go between both sides of campus at least once a day. Times will vary. ...I also have lab space in main campus so my students and I have to go back and forth depending on experiments. There are times when I have to back and forth twice a day. It has become impossible at times to find parking. I often remain on East Campus (main campus) and work remotely from there because of the parking situation.

… For my case, I have already tried to limited the numbers of trips I have to make between Birck and ME, mainly because the challenges to find a nearby parking at Birck during the work days, especially when there is a seminar. One of my colleagues actually changed to an all-electric car mainly because it is easier to park at the nearby charging stations. …

...This semester, my schedule has been such that I don't come to Birck except for one a month or so since I am teaching two classes and expected to be in lab for teaching four days a week and there is no way for me to cross campus and return for my other responsibilities.  ... I basically do not go to Birck when I have to be at the main campus, which this parking issue exacerbates.  If reasonable parking were available, I could be at Birck once or twice per week and meet with my collaborator, who works out of Birck.
******************

On Feb 6, 2019, at 9:39 AM, Shakouri, Ali <shakouri at purdue.edu<mailto:shakouri at purdue.edu>> wrote:

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

<Purdue Village Pedestrian Logistics Plan_2019.02.04 (002).pdf>

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