Rates Increase For Parking At Harvard

University-wide parking rates increased this fall, in one instance by nearly 70 percent, as part of an ongoing drive to end University subsidization of parking costs.

The largest increase was registered at the Business School parking lot, where undergraduate resident students will now have to pay $220 for the academic year, a $90 increase over last year's $130 fee.

The Parking Office also this year closed the 177-space undergraduate parking lot at the Business School because the demand for parking places was far below the number available. Last year there were about 4000 cars for the approximately 6000 spaces throughout the University.

About 600 of those were resident students. David L. Gorski, chief of the Harvard University Police, which oversees University parking, said yesterday Harvard has been gradually putting the full cost of parking back on the user since 1972, and hopes to be free of the cost by 1982.

"Who could best afford it? The resident students--having a car is not as essential for them as a commuter. It's a luxury, not a necessity," Gorski said.

He added that spiraling costs have pushed those rates up even further.

And while Gorski said the higher rates might lead to a decrease in the number of students parking--there has been a 10 percent decrease in usage in the past three years--he said "people who attempt to park in the Cambridge streets will not find it very productive."

Michael Grossi, a sergeant in the Cambridge police department, yesterday agreed with Gorski, saying "As a tax- payer, I think it should go up to $1000 or $2000--why should a person come into a state for one sole purpose, a quality education, with a car? Why does he need a car for a quality education? And the situation couldn't get much worse anyway."

Parking rates for the approximately 600 commuting students will increase this year from $50 to $90. Faculty members who have an unreserved space in the lot at the Business School will pay $120 this year, compared to $75 last year.

Students yesterday said they were dismayed at the rising costs. One student, who asked not to be identified, said it is now cheaper to park on the Cambridge streets and be towed up to 15 times during the year than to pay the $220 fee.

Another student, who is parking at the Business School lot this year, said, "Harvard's parking policy being what it is, students might as well be required to park at Pat's Towing Service and save their money for later on--they are going to get you on the streets anyway."

Parking at the 29 Garden St. and Peabody Terrace lots is also more expensive this year, with both raising the price of a lot to $20 per month