City government approves $10 parking charge for RU football games

Rutgers is anticipating an increase in its turnout for football games with its recent entry in the Big Ten. However, that may not be the only increase this football season. Visitors of home games would now be required to pay a whopping $10 for a day for parking at College Avenue between Somerset and Lafayette Street, according to a new ordinance approved unanimously on August 6 by the City Council.Originally, parkers could park for free on the main stretch of the campus.The change comes under the purview of the New Brunswick Parking Authority, a government agency created to deal with parking issues in the city, said Jennifer Bradshaw, public information officer at the city of New Brunswick. The NBPA owes more than $249 million in debt which is guaranteed by the city government, and therefore, the taxpayers of New Brunswick, according to an article in New Brunswick Today.The charge might have been imposed to collect money for the many parking decks that have been paid for with borrowed money, according to the article but Bradshaw seemed to differ.“We are expecting a great deal of people in the city because of the Big Ten..,” Bradshaw said. “So we wanted to monetize parking.” With the new meters, parkers will have the option of paying through credit cards as well the Parkmobile cellphone app.On July 1, Rutgers celebrated its first day as one of two new members of the Big Ten with 'R B1G Party' at High Point Solutions Stadium on Busch campus. More than 3,000 fans gathered with Big Ten mascots on the stadium's turf for live music, concessions, giveaways and fireworks, according to a previous article in The Daily Targum.Rutgers head football, Kyle Flood, expressed his enthusiasm about Rutgers becoming a part of the elite athletic conference."I think going forward, this is going to be like an anniversary," Flood said in the article. "Whether it's a wedding anniversary or something like a birthday, I think this'll be a date throughout history that the Rutgers family is really going to remember."Rutgers doesn't become a full member of the conference until 2020 and isn't expected to reap significant profit margins until then, said Athletic Director Julie Hermann, in the article.

Editor's Note: This article was originally published online on August 18, 2014.