Mayor Dan Canan says that parking is one of the major issues Ball State University students bring to the Muncie community, so it would be in the best interest of the city to work with Ball State students to find a solution to this problem.
Monday's City Council meeting was that opportunity.
A handful of Ball State students showed up to offer their opinions, at least some of whom were there specifically to voice their disapproval of the parking policies.
However, the City Council first chose to pass the ordinances during the summer when most students weren't around to comment. Then, they neglect the issue by leaving it off Monday's agenda completely. The council remained open to guests bringing up the issue, but because there was no specified place on the agenda for parking ordinance commentary, the discussion closed without comment. Now, the issue will be shelved for another month.
Likewise, the noise ordinance amendment was low on a very lengthy list of business to conduct at the 7:30 p.m. meeting, meaning discussion of the issue didn't even begin until after 9 p.m. - after a number of students had left.
Perhaps it's easier to cover up or ignore dissent among council members by not allowing such imperative issues to stake a place on the agenda, but political roundabout maneuvers like this hurt students and other residents. Most council members do not live near campus and likely will never feel the effects of the parking ordinance decision, so leaving the issue off the agenda and postponing decision making might be easy for them - but that's irresponsible representation of their city.
There are Ball State students and Muncie residents who are invested in these issues enough to attend 2-hour-long City Council meetings, and the council owes it to them to deal with the issues they care about and deal with them in a timely manner.
But perhaps council members are hoping to continue procrastinating until summer comes back around, so they can again be free to pass ordinances as they please, without regard to the vital university portion of the city.
Until then, the "issue" of student parking near campus will not change for students or for permanent residents.
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