OPINION
FEATURES
Willie Brown gets two more
years as Assembly speaker.
Page 2
Virtual World: The entertainment wave
of the future comes to Pasadena.
Page 4
Coach Dennis Gossard calls
it quits after eight years as
PCC Head Football coach.
Page 5
PASADENA CITY COLLEGE
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
VOL. 80 No. 15
COURIER
Serving the Pasadena Community since 1915
THURSDAY
January 26, 1995
MARK CUMMINGS/THE COURIER
For the first time in a long while, this semester the rain proved to be a bigger problem than parking. The 2,042 space structure also contributed to reduce the number of students late for class.
...And parking for all, so far
By PAT ROBISON
COURIERSTAFF WRITER
After years of circling the parking
lots, fighting for spaces, showing up late
and stressed out for classes, students now
may have blessed relief . It comes in the
form of the new $9.2 million parking
structure. Who would have believed that
at PCC, where parking problems are
legendary statewide, students could pull
up, park and just get out of their cars and
go to class? Well that day is here. But it
does, of course, come with a price.
The parking structure officially opened
on time, Jan. 9, and Dr. James Kossler,
assistant superintendent of administra¬
tive services, said that faculty members have
told him students are calmer when they get
to class and that they are showing up on time
more often.
“We used to spend a lot of time and energy
settling arguments about parking but not any
more,” Kossler said.
The added parking proved to be valuable
to education too.
“Many faculty members told me that stu¬
dents in their classes stop using the same
excuse when they are late, which was always
something like, T couldn’t find parking,’”
Anthony Georgilas, faculty senate presi¬
dent, told the Board of Trustees.
The new structure also translates into a lot
less work for the campus police.
“Last semester, most major incidents in¬
volved fights over parking spaces. This
semester we have not had one,” said Phillip
Mullendore, director of police and safety
services.
Mullendore added that staff traffic has
been eliminated from the center of campus so
that people walking through campus will
feel a little safer. “The staff is not happy
about this, but our concern is safety.” He said
that staff members will keep their spaces in
the parking lots but will not be able to park
in the new structure unless they pay for a day
permit.
Vince Palermo, supervisor of police and
safety services, said, “We have had no prob¬
lems so far. I think students are not as
stressed about parking and they feel a lot
better.” Palermo also said more patrols have
been added to cover the structure and the
other lots as well. “We have added more foot
patrols and even undercover patrols.” He
said that at least one cadet is on duty on each
level of the structure at all times. At peak
.times, three or four are there.
For all of the easing of psychological
tension and vehicular congestion it has
brought, the parking structure has come with
a big price tag. The estimated annual cost for
the $9.2 million structure is $1.78 million.
The school paid $2 million as a down-
payment, while the rest will have to be paid
by students through parking fees. So far this
semester, the sale of permits has brought in
only $347,348 despite the increase from $20
to $64 per semester. The sale of the permits
is continuing, but Dr. Kossler said that
information is slowly getting to him
since direct sales through registration
are over and students now buy the
permits through the campus bank.
When projected sales including
summer and fall are added, the school
will still need to sell around 4,500
daily parking permits each day from
the machines in the structure and the
various other parking lots.
That figure might be hard to reach
since 7,553 regular permits have been
sold so far this semester and last se¬
mester about 1 2,000 permits were sold.
That leaves a difference of only 4,447
if one assumes the same number of
students need to park on campus.
Please see PARKING, Page 4
Coping with the flood...
RAFAEL VEGA/THE COURIER
Trying to avoid heavy rain, Ben Davis escorts Jeff Thacker.
Related story on damages from the storm on Page 3.
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Revised constitution to create
11-member student senate
By ANDREW McDIARMID
courier staff writer
If the new Associated Students
(AS) Constitution is approved by the
student body in a special election to
be held in March, the AS will add a
new branch of student government:
the Student Senate. The move is
designed to encourage more students
to enter the political arena. At the
board meeting last week, Robert
Bowman, AS president, also told of
a new off ramp for the information
superhighway that may be available
to students, by the end of the semes¬
ter.
Kevin Fullen, president of the
supreme council, told the board that
after a marathon 13-hour meeting at
the beginning of the month, the new
PCC student constitution was near
completion. The full manuscript, that
would completely overhaul the stu¬
dent political structure on campus,
would create a Student Senate with
11 senators from the different areas
of campus. This body would also
create a system of checks and bal¬
ances between the existing executive
board and the new branch of govern¬
ment.
“It will allow students to enter our
student government at a more entry
level position. The senators would
not have the responsibilities the board
members do. It will create a wonder¬
ful change for those people who
want to get involved, but don’t want
to jump in with both feet,” said
Rebecca Cobb, AS
adviser.
Cobb commended
the Supreme Council
for their work.
“The intensity was
close to blood shed,
but the work they ac¬
complished will be
noticed for years to
come,” Cobb said.
The constitution
will have to be ap¬
proved by a two third
majority of the students voting in a
special election to be held sometime
in March. The revised document is
not completed yet. The next meeting
will be tomorrow at 1 p.m. in CC202.
Many student leaders have com¬
plained that the existing constitution
is often not clear.
“The existing constitution is not
worth the paper it is printed on. A
fifth grader could have written what
PCC has been operating under for so
long. Fullen and his committee
should be commended for all their
hard work in repairing a failing sys¬
tem,” Bowman said.
According to the new constitu¬
tion, the senate would
be considered a liaison
between different seg¬
ments of the campus
population and the stu¬
dent government.
Later in the AS
Board meeting, Bow¬
man stated that he
hoped that the Internet
system would soon be
integrated into all stu¬
dent terminals on cam¬
pus, including those in
the basement of D Building. Bow¬
man stated that the $6,000 subscrip¬
tion a year would be paid from the
AS the budget. It would make the
Internet available campus-wide. All
students should be able to use the
system free of charge.
“If there is one thing 1 want com¬
pleted before I leave office in June,
it is the completion of this project,”
Bowman said confidently.
Not sharing in his optimism for
the project was Student Trustee
George Battle, who said he had mixed
feelings about entering the computer
age. He also felt that other upgrades
such a new computer for the club
office was more important to stu¬
dents than embarking on the infor¬
mation superhighway.
“I fear that Internet breaks up the
communications process and pre¬
vents racial interaction. I fear every¬
one will just stay at home and access
it, and not interact with each other,”
Battle said.
Bowman responded to Battle’s
concerns by announcing that another
project underway is to upgrade both
the AS and club computers. How¬
ever, many of the other board mem¬
bers shared Bowman’s excitement
about the Internet subscription.
Upcoming projects sponsored by
the AS Board are the African Heri¬
tage Month in February and club
recruitment on campus through to¬
morrow in the Quad.
‘The existing
constitution is
not worth the
paper it is
printed on,’
Robert Bowman,
AS President
