Editor, Daily Nexus,

This letter is in regard to the bike rack problem outside the Carrillo Dining Commons. Because of the poor design of the Carrillo Dining Commons and the limited amount of space available for bike parking, students are forced to park outside the designated bike parking area.

Recently, the CSO threatened to impound bikes not parked in the bike racks. This poses a problem for the large number of students who frequent the dining commons, especially at dinnertime. There is not enough room to park in the designated area, so students must park elsewhere. However, if students park outside the designated area the CSO will impound their bikes.

Take last Tuesday night for example: There were too many bikes outside Carrillo, so I was forced to park outside the designated area. As I went to get my bike I noticed a warning from CSO that my bike would be impounded. My roommate had parked his bike legally in a rack and when he went to get it he had to climb over three bikes to unlock his. The fact is that the bikes parked outside the racks were parked for convenient access and were not disrupting the flow of students in and out of the commons. Anybody who has visited the Carrillo Dining Commons knows that availability of space is not a problem. There is clearly plenty of room in front of the dining commons to accommodate at least twice as many bikes. If the CSO wants to fix the problem, they should create more bike parking in the immediate vicinity.

Students ride bikes because it is convenient. By making bike parking such a hassle, they are doing a great disservice to the community.