Transportation and Parking Services is continuing its annual tradition of giving students living in I.V. a special Halloween treat this year – free on-campus parking during the holiday weekend.

Because of the expected influx of out-of-town partiers and a history of increased property crime during the weekend preceding Halloween, all UCSB students living in Isla Vista will be able to park their vehicles on campus from Friday at noon through Nov. 1 at 8 a.m., provided they obtain complimentary Halloween permits from TPS. This Halloween marks the third year of the parking program, which was designed to promote safety and protection for UCSB students during the festivities.

Laura Condon, associate director for TPS, said UCSB Chancellor Henry T. Yang contributed to the development of the original permit program.

“This is the Chancellor’s vision,” she said. “He is trying to help the students and the community, and things are really getting better as a result.”

Condon said the Halloween permits give students whose cars would be prone to vandalism or accidents while parked in Isla Vista during the weekend a safe place to store their vehicles – away from intoxicated partygoers, moving vehicles and potential crime.

“Halloween weekend has been a huge magnet for parties and other safety problems for years,” Condon said. “We want to help protect student property, and getting the cars out of the way also helps give everyone more room.”

To order permits, students must visit the TPS website at www.tps.ucsb.edu and click on the pumpkin icon, which provides a link to the order form. Once a student applies, Transportation and Parking Services needs 24 hours to confirm that the applicant is a UCSB student currently living in Isla Vista.

Permits are available at the TPS booth in front of the UCen between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and between 10 a.m. and noon on Friday. Condon said students will be required to present their student ID cards and vehicle registration form verifying their cars are registered either to them or an immediate family member at the booth.

As a result of the delayed opening of 22 Parking, the new structure adjacent to the Events Center, Halloween permit holders will be required to park in Lots 38 and 30 next to Harder Stadium, the parking structure at Mesa 18 and nearby Lot 16. This arrangement will impact the commuters, visitors, faculty and staff members who usually park in these lots, and whose permits will still be valid despite the impacted parking situation, Condon said.

“We are trying to be good to our students,” she said. “We had hoped to have the new parking structure up and running by this weekend, but there are too many construction hazards to allow students to park there.”

Condon said off-campus dorm permits and student Night and Weekend permits will not be valid for parking in the structures designated for this weekend’s permit program. She said students displaying these permits – or any other person who parks in one of the structures without one of the special passes – may have their vehicles towed.

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