After receiving $77.2 million from the Measure V bond in 2008, City College administrators are now attempting to convince the Board of Trustees to pursue another multi-million dollar bond.
Administrators and department heads guided the Board of Trustees around campus to visit deteriorating buildings at the Special Board of Trustees meeting Thursday, Feb. 21. Administration, Student Services, Cafeteria and Humanities buildings were deemed most in need of remodel. Complaints of leaks, student congestion and unsafe conditions inspired the structural evaluation.
“Imagine what the [Garvin Theatre] is like now and the Learning Resource Center, because that’s what our students deserve and that’s what our community deserves,” said Superintendent-President Lori Gaskin while touring the facilities. “When I came here I was pretty taken aback by what we have and I think it’s simply time to step up and create new spaces for our students and our staff.”
The bond’s focus is up-to-date technology, student safety and manageable class sizes. It has safeguards, such as a bond oversight committee, to ensure the money will be spent on necessities only. However, the bond will not affect salaries. If it is approved, it will appear on the Proposition 39 ballot in 2014.
“I believe they didn’t ask for enough last time and they promised too much,” said trustee Marianne Kugler in reference to Measure V bond’s unfulfilled construction promises. “I have to feel that we have done every possible preparation so that we do not do that again.”
The Board of Trustees has not yet determined the bond’s monetary worth. It would be paid for by annual property tax.
Trustee Peter Haslund said the short-term costs of a quality renovation will pay off down the line. He said the last time City College attempted campuswide renovations in the early ’90s, they “were not done well.”
“We did it on the cheap and that was part of the problem,” Haslund said. “It will cost more in the long run by not doing it right, because now were doing it again.”
The bond would provide funding for renovations like the current Humanities building remodel, which is 40 percent complete in its estimated 15-month long construction period.
This would be the second bond to address the deficient facilities on City College campus.
The Measure V bond was worth $77.2 million. The bond financed renovations for the Garvin Theatre, Cartwright Resources Learning Center and the ongoing Humanities Building project.
City College has also been ordered by the California Coastal Commission to remove all the East Campus portables, which have been deemed unsafe. Julie Hendricks, director of facilities and campus development, said the new bond money would help facilitate that order.
Emerson Malone contributed to this story.
