Key points:

1.    I arrived half an hour before my class.

2.    There were spaces available where I wanted to park (I have pictures).

3.    I was barred from parking there because "I didn't pay."

4.    Construction was occurring during this time, further blocking my ability to get anywhere.

I arrived to campus at 9:32.  The loop was packed and barely moving (http://imgur.com/oOf5fOY).  I knew, however, that I would likely be able to find parking in the metered spots on the ground floor of Commons Garage if all else failed.

I was not allowed (by a traffic cop) to turn left onto Commons Drive (http://imgur.com/YEBQA1P), so I made my way down to Poplar and made a u-turn.  Then I was not allowed (by another traffic cop) to turn right onto Commons Drive, so I rolled down my window to ask why.

-- The officer said there was no parking for "red tags" up there.

-- I told him I'd parked up there every day this semester.

-- He said I must have gotten there earlier (which is not true, I get there around 11 before my 1pm classes most days) and that he's only letting "blue tags who have paid to park up there" onto Commons Drive.  (I have paid for parking with my tuition, like everyone else with a "red tag.")

I then decide not to hold up the people behind me anymore so I go around the loop one more time in order to park in the distant lot off Poplar.  I am blocked by the construction in front of Administration Garage (http://imgur.com/f0H0YnV) -- why is there construction work happening during peak parking hours, in the area where students are driving?

I finally park, and am able to walk to class.  Since my class is in the Physics building, I walk up Commons Drive, where the traffic is still being directed away by that second cop.  There are at least five available spaces for A permits that I can see without even looking, so I snap a few pictures (http://imgur.com/nUX8A4q, http://imgur.com/26YDuuP, http://imgur.com/v7BRkn9) all of which are spaces where my car would have fit.  This isn't to mention the side lots and the entire garage.  This is just on my walk to my class.  I also see that there are plenty of metered parking spaces I could have used, had I been allowed to even turn onto Commons Drive.

The morning parking situation does not have to be this bad; it needs to be managed MUCH better.  I paid out of my own pocket for this class, and I have to be late, and miss points, because this cop didn't know what he was doing (the first space I posted was literally right behind him, and he should know that not only blue tags have paid for parking).  It's such a shame, but what I've come to expect from UMBC.