Waterside Shootout in Parking Garage

On Sunday morning, Waterside in Norfolk, VA continued to become an area feared by local residents.

After a small car crash inside the garage, police were called to the scene inside a parking garage to find two victims. One of whom was already dead while the other severely injured and taken to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. The police arrested the three men who were involved in the shooting after trying to leave the garage. The police only charged Reginald E. Royals Jr., 24.

The main concern now is "What is the city of Norfolk going to do about these shootings?" There have been officially two downtown slayings near parking garages in the past three days. Citizens are pushing to get surveillance cameras installed in these garages. Law enforcement officers agree with this actions.

"For two-plus years we've been trying to get the city to put surveillance cameras in the garages," said Officer Murphy of the City of Norfolk. Police officers have been put inside the garages themselves and yet the city has still not spared the money to install cameras.

So how many more people need to die before the cost is acceptable? The answer..too many have already died.

When do you not drive?

Just this past week on campus, a question has come up more often than typical for me. When do students find other means of transportation to classes? Such as walking, riding a bike, taking the shuttle or using a skateboard? This week the answer became more obviously...during the warmer weather! All week I observed more bikes parked outside of buildings, larger groups walking together in a much more relaxed manner instead of a hurry and just the overall feel was not a complete rush to get to a car.

Something that accompanied this observation: an easier time to find a parking spot! I guess it's starting to become clearer that the best time to find a spot (if you are a commuter) is during the warm weather!! And it appears riding a bike is probably a lot faster to get to campus than commuting from a dorm anyways...too bad that can't happen all year round!

Seeing the Problem for yourself..

As usual, no spots are available..




So we are forced to resort to this..



And to park here..



However...luckily this time we are not forced to pay extra...for now..



Only to return hours later to find regular spots open at no extra cost..