MEMO
TO: Chris Huff
FROM: Babangida Ahuwan, Jesse Becker, Jeff Ezell (Eng 2311-002)
DUE DATE: 03/26/07
DATE HANDED IN: 03/26/07
RE: Proposal plan memo
Proposal title: “Campus Parking- Introduction of Standard Parking Fee”
This memo presents an overview, a summary, a background, and proposes a solution to
the problem of parking and parking tickets on the Texas Tech campus.
Overview: The proposal idea
Texas Tech has a serious parking problem. Each semester students pay thousands of
dollars in the form of parking tickets and/or violations. The parking system and structure
is fundamentally flawed. Various parking locations and areas have deeply varying costs.
Having a parking permit does not guarantee that one’s designated parking area will have
free space. Furthermore, non-permit holders have to worry about the following:
1. Finding available metered parking space
2. Locating parking space in close proximity to their intended destination.
3. Working conditions of parking meters.
4. Thoughts of when meter will run out.
Our group has two ideas aimed at addressing the issue of parking. The first and main idea
revolves around the introduction of a standard parking fee. This fee if implemented
would be included as a mandatory fee. The second idea is a consequence of the first. That
is, all parking spaces should be given equal priority with the exception of handicapped
spaces, administrative and academic designations. All Texas Tech students would like to
see a situation where parking becomes a non issue on campus.
This memo describes how our group will create a proposal to:
 Make parking available to all registered students.
 Remove selectivity and preferential lot allocation.
 Generate more wealth for the university
Summary: The problem, solution, and audience
Our group will address the issue of parking on the Texas Tech campus. Each semester
hundreds of students have either their vehicles towed, receive parking tickets, or both. As
a result parking has become a major reason why students avoid the campus premises if
and when possible.
Our group will describe and propose two main ideas. These ideas are aimed at
consolidating all permit types. Furthermore, our proposed solution seeks to make parking
an automatic right (as long as a student is registered).
The audience that the group will appeal to is the Student Government Association
(S.G.A). We intend to reach this audience through their External Vice President, Chris
Huff. We will appeal to our audience in the following ways:
1) Show that we understand the major issues associated with parking at Texas Tech.
2) Describe how our ideas will increase the resources generated by the university
through parking permits; while, simultaneously accommodating all Tech students.
3) Give a side by side review of how our proposal compares to the recreational fees
paid by all Tech students.
4) Encompass all facts and suggestions in a brief, concise proposal document.
Background: The problem
The problems associated with parking on Tech campus has been a recurrent issue. Every
semester students pay on the average $75 in parking tickets. The inconvenience of paying
an unbudgeted amount really hurts the average students’ pocket. These tickets result not
only as a consequence of not having permits but also due to the unavailability of parking
in their designated zones.
The current system in effect makes the thought of driving to campus a nightmare.
Students are punished for either not having permits or having permits and parking at the
wrong zones. No consideration is given whatsoever to the condition(s) that cause students
to park where they park.
Solution
There are two issues that make parking difficult for most students at Tech. The first being
the classification of parking spaces into various types. This makes the diffusion of
vehicles to various lots very restrictive. The second is the option of not having to buy a
parking sticker at all. A good number of students start the semester thinking they can get
around campus without having to deploy their vehicles. The number of tickets that are
issued each semester thanks to the non availability of permits speak differently however.
For the first highlighted problem, we as a group are suggesting that all parking permits be
made universally acceptable within the Tech campus. Implementing this suggestion
would maximize the use of lots that are seldom used. It would also erase the fear of
having tickets anywhere on campus. Secondly, we are proposing that parking fees be
included as a mandatory fee in student tuition. Doing this in conjunction with the first
suggestion would make it impossible for any Tech student to get ticketed.
Division of Responsibilities
Since this proposal is such a large project we have decided to split the work up into
separate loads. We plan on doing many of the assignments by splitting them up into
separate parts. For example, two people will write two different parts of the paper and the
other member will do the editing and organization. As Jeff, Baba, and I talked about our
individual skills we all agreed that we have about the same writing and editing abilities.
Therefore, to even out the work load we will rotate the editing and organization part
through each assignment. By rotating this task it will even out the work load for each
individual that way no one member is doing the whole project. The way that the project is
divided is expressed in the table below.
Assignment
Proposal Plan Memo
Due: 03/26/07
Tasks to be Completed
Baba: Write the beginning of the memo
describing the problem, issues, and
background
Jesse: Write the division of
responsibilities, schedule, and questions.
Jeff: Edit and organize the draft.
Baba: Write the second half (last two
questions) of the proposal outline and his
individual progress memo
Proposal Outline and Progress
Memos
Due: 04/04/07
Proposal Rough Draft and
Progress Memos
Due: 04/16/07
Jesse: Edit and organize the draft, along
with individual progress memo
Jeff: Write the first half (first two
questions) of the proposal outline, along
with individual progress memo
Baba: Edit and organize the draft, along
with minor parts of the rough draft (i.e.
Table of Contents, Title Page, etc.) and
individual progress memo
Jesse: Write the first half of the proposal
(i.e. the background, issues, problems, etc.)
Proposal Presentation
Due: 04/16/07
Jeff: Write the second half of the proposal
( i.e. ways to resolve the issues, other ideas,
and conclusion.)
As a Group: We will get together and
make a power point presentation and print
the handouts from that.
Baba: Will write the first third of the
project requirements and edit the other
member’s parts.
Formal Group Proposal Report
Due: 04/18/07
Jesse: Will write the second third of the
projects requirements and edit the other
member’s parts.
Jeff: Will write the final third of the
projects and edit the other member’s parts.
Proposal Presentation Memos &
Handout
Due: 04/23/07
As a Group: We will provide a handout of
the proposal presentation and write our
own individual memos.
Schedule of Assignments
As a group we decided that the best way to get this project done effectively and on time
would be to get our parts of the assignment to the designated editor. Our goal is to get the
information to the editor two days before the due date. Doing this will allow the editor to
go through the entire document and fix all the mistakes and also give him a chance to
organize the assignment the best way possible.
Questions
Parking has always been a major issue with Texas Tech students. We believe that this
will make a great alternative to parking fees. We would like any comments that you have
on the effectiveness of this idea. Is there anything you think that we need to put an
emphasis on throughout this proposal to make it effective? Is there something that we
could do that would stand out to the audience about the effectiveness of this proposal?