The dirt lot at the corner of 11th and Montgomery streets is temporary home to hundreds of cars.
There are sharp rocks, broken bottles and large potholes covering the entire area.
Drivers park in this lot at their own risk.
But there should not be a risk.
Temple must find a way to make this desolate lot safe for drivers.
The razed lot wasn’t designed to store cars.
But for the past two years, students have made it a place to park while they are in class.
The immediate cost is free, but after bouncing over deep potholes and sweeping sharply from left to right, navigating this lot takes a toll on any car.
An even bigger problem is driver behavior. Parking at the lot is literally a free-for-all, where people abandon all driving or parking etiquette as they rush to class.
Some drivers disregard the correct way to park, leaving entering cars to operate an obstacle course.
Even worse are the people who, late for class, decide to park wherever they please.
This includes blocking in other cars.
On more than one occasion, I have watched students come out of class, arrive at their cars and realize that they cannot leave because someone has parked in front and in back of their car.
Hopefully, those students do not have emergency situations to attend to, because they cannot move.
This type of situation leads to anger and frustration, and some drivers lash out.
Last week, I walked passed a car that was blocking someone in.
That car had profane words scratched into its passenger door, and there was a note left under the windshield wiper.
Another time, a driver became so desperate to get into a tight space that he intentionally drove into the car parked in front of him.
The driver did this in front of a Temple police officer who reprimanded him immediately.
Common sense should tell people to avoid parking in this lot.
But the reality is that hundreds of students drive to class, and there are more cars than free parking spaces.
Many students are not inclined to pay for parking, and I agree with them.
However, the lot at 11th and Montgomery streets is a big problem that is growing.
Improving the lot may result in less parking spaces, but that is the price that drivers must pay to protect their cars.
A simple coat of tar and some white lines would do wonders for the headaches associated with parking there.
Jonathan Graham can be reached at jjmmhg@temple.edu.
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