Parking 101 at HCC
Here at HCC your vehicle is safe and secure as long as you remember to lock it, hide it, and keep it. Housatonic has a secure, safe, and free seven level parking lot. The garage is open Monday thru Friday from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., on Saturdays it is open from seven am to four pm, and it is closed on Sunday.
There are two ground level entrances, one located on the south end by the doorway of Beacon Hall, and the other is located on at the north stair tower to Lafayette Hall. However,there is also another entrance from the parking lot that a lot of people are not aware of; it is on the fifth floor of the garage and it enters Beacon Hall on the third floor.
There are elevators that are on both sides of the garage, but sometimes they tend to be a little slow, so ladies if you are parking up high today try to shy away from those heels, and gentlemen try your best to wear some comfortable sneakers.
According to M.Stanley, known to many as “Q,” who has been with security here at HCC for five years, “The school is humble and when it comes to parking just be cautious.”
HCC goes on shutdown after 11 p.m. Once the gate is down your vehicle is locked in the school and there are only a certain amount times that the school will allow you keep your car here overnight. If you tend to repeat the act of leaving your car here, then you will be put into question.
If you park where the professors park, you will get a warning, and if you keep on doing it then the school will have your car towed. Now you see why Q said, “the school is humble”; the college gives you a fair chance to get it together.
Across the street there is Bob’s Furniture and Dunkin Donuts. Many students tend to park in their lot, thinking that no one is watching. Well guess what, Big Brother is watching, there is a security guard that is there and he will get your car towed if he sees you coming across the street to go to class.
So, refrain from parking there so you don’t have to put up with an extra headache.
There are also meters on Broad Street. They last 2 hours, but make sure to bring “only” quarters and be sure that you don’t go over the time because the meter police are out there trying to get your $35.
If you have night courses, parking on Broad Street works out, since the meters are free after five pm, and they are also free on the weekends too.
After reading this you may have mixed feelings about parking at HCC but let me tell you, your car is safe if you want to keep it, lock it, and hide it.