Graduate Student Calls Columnists Pessimistic About Finding Love

It seems like a couple of your writers are using their columns as a rather feeble attempt to pick up women.

While I don't believe their whining is necessary, I do believe that they are portraying the way a lot of people feel. Being a jaded single male myself, I often find myself slipping into the same position these guys feel they're in.

However, hearing them spew out their frustrations has made me realize just how pathetic we sound. What everyone needs to realize is that we're never going to find love by searching and looking for it.

Love doesn't work like that. As a matter of fact, I think that we probably spend so much time looking for love and companionship that we overlook what might already be there.

Sometimes the best relationships start out as friendships, because we learn to like people more for who they really are, not just that typical first impression you get when you stumble up to someone at a bar. I'm not saying that everyone should run around trying to "hook up" with their friends, but maybe people should take a few steps back and try to look at the big picture. The true tragedy in this is that by the time people realize what's been there all along, it's usually too late.

So to all my fellow single friends, male and female alike, cheer up and stop being so pessimistic; you'll find what you're looking for someday.

Jared Paul
Graduate Student
Chemistry

TPAC Chairman Clears

Up Facts on Proposals

For Night Parking

TO THE EDITOR:

Monday's board editorial, "No (Night) Parking," and a reader's letter, "TPAC Decision on Night Parking" contain misstatements that will leave Daily Tar Heel readers ill-informed without clarification.

First, no final decisions have been made about night parking. The Transportation and Parking Advisory Committee voted 13-7, with one abstention, last week to agree that a night parking program might be among its final recommendations. The most recent TPAC discussions focused on having some free night parking available for all students as well as other restricted lots for faculty or employees working nights. Students and employees shared their concerns about safety if free night parking were eliminated during the Feb. 5 campus parking forums. I believe TPAC members take their concerns seriously. Second, TPAC has never seriously considered charging students $363 for a night parking permit. That figure represents the charge for a daytime permit in a gated parking lot. It was used to illustrate potential revenue from a night parking program. Regrettably, campus e-mail now circulating erroneously says students would be charged $363. A related misconception in the editorial is that employees and students parking at night would pay for an additional parking permit. That is false. Anyone already paying for a day permit would not pay twice to park at night. Finally, the editorial didn't make clear an important point about how a day permit increase might affect the current budget shortfall facing the Department of Public Safety as it has expanded fare-free transit service in partnership with Chapel Hill Transit. Raising the price of each day permit by about $12 monthly would make up a $2 million revenue shortfall in the Department of Public Safety's 2002-03 budget. However, many lower-paid university employees who received both a small salary increase this year and a large health-care insurance rate hike spoke against this idea during recent parking forums. Most TPAC members agree that the entire burden of eliminating the $2 million deficit should not be borne by a single campus constituency. TPAC will continue to deliberate about night parking during its upcoming meetings. That is just one of several complex parking and related issues facing both the committee and the campus community.

Robert A. Knight

Chairman

TPAC