Any vehicle-driving attendee of Granite Bay High School is familiar with the parking lot and its increasing amount of problems.

  The first conflict, of at least 10, is the parking passes. Not only must you be an upperclassman, you must pay $20 to obtain a parking pass.

  Let me explain the clear issues within these rules. Believe it or not, there are those who are unfortunate enough to turn 16 their sophomore year and don’t want to procrastinate on receiving their first form of independence.  

  Those who get a car right away – which in Granite Bay, applies to most students – can finally rely on themselves for the simple task of going to and from school.

  But sorry, sophomores – you can drive to school all you want, but you certainly cannot park in our parking lot. Instead, we recommend that you wake up at the crack of dawn to get to school 45 minutes early, and maybe get one of the five parking spots on the street, outside of the school.

  Other parking options to compliment your newly found independence include: Feist Park, the church parking lot down the street or the Silverwood neighborhoods, if you have the gate code. While all great options for the average new driver, you eventually end up walking from your parking spot to actually get to school, which kind of defeats the purpose of driving.

 I mean, it’s not like we have two completely empty rows in the back of the GBHS parking lot.

  Aside from the issue of being one of the young and parking spot-less, you still have to pay $20 just to be allowed to park.

  Every time you park without a parking pass, you risk having to pay a $35 parking ticket. Good news though, you can always transfer to pretty much any other school in Placer County, where you can park regardless of your grade level and don’t have to pay for a pass.

  This year, there have also been new “fixtures” adorning our parking lot. Fortunately, we have found extra money in our budget to place a new gate and movable poles, maybe to keep us safer somehow? I can’t quite remember the actual benefits of them. I also can’t remember a time when anyone said they would be a great idea to spend money on. It’s not like we need new textbooks or anything.

  However, the issue of the poles has been relatively solved. One of my friends crashed her car into it – accidentally, of course – bending it out of shape just enough that now everyone’s car can fit through them.

  It doesn’t appear that the parking lot regulations will be adjusted anytime soon, but I hear the church parking lot down the street isn’t half bad.