On Wednesday morning, Mr. Costello hurriedly entered the gymnasium to address our Saint Philip Neri Honorees and their parents. Instead of congratulating them, he first requested for parents to move their cars because the police were writing tickets outside. Neighbors had apparently called in the law; parking wasn’t just an Oratory problem anymore.

Senior Matthew Muoio was in class when he received word that his car was being ticketed by the Summit Police. Confirming this by looking out the window, Muoio bounded through the halls, lept down the stairs and sprinted to his car where he found a $40 dollar ticket for illegally parking. After accidentally ripping it up (the rain that morning effectively turned the paper ticket into pulp), Muoio exclaimed that it was, “outrageous, egregious and preposterous.”

It’s no secret that the parking lot is a hot button issue, but let’s be serious: it’s the biggest issue that Oratory has faced since the open letter. The year is only half over, and almost every spot is double parked. By the end of the year, the Omega projects that cars will be triple parked. Mr. Gordon already has a plan to beat the parking issue, however. By magically and expertly jamming his car into spots that aren’t spots, Mr. Gordon has been able to avoid the parking issue altogether.

I reached out to Jack Bizub, our school president, for comments regarding this dilemma. Bizub said that, “It’s an issue right now, but it will not be in the future when DeGaeta Hall is built and Newman Hall becomes a parking lot.” Senior Eric Warga is less optimistic, saying that, “there is absolutely no way to resolve this issue now.” Junior Justin Rodriguez, who is co-captain of the Mock Jocks, says that he is against putting an emergency driving restriction into effect.

Parking isn’t the only issue either. Inspectors have reportedly been sent to the school to try and catch people who are idling longer than the law allows.

Stay safe Oratory.