THURSDAY IVIAI^OH 4, 1999 - VOL. 84#21
Со/117ГС
WOMEN'S TENNIS
lancers lose to Ma mount College at
home on Tuesday Page 6
Free Speech
Audrey Allen takes a look at fruit pesti¬
cide risks Page 2
www.pcc-courieronline.com i
New Structure Closer To Reality
The facility will be at the corner of Del Mar and Bonnie Ave.
Environmental Impact Report Green-Lights Proposed Parking Structure on the east side of campus.
BY TIM ALVES
Staff Writer
A favorable environmental impact report has
advanced the proposed parking structure a step
closer to being built.
The Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND)
prepared for the proposed eastern parking struc¬
ture on the corner of Del Mar and Bonnie Avenue
has found that the construction would have a less
than significant impact on the existing site and
the surrounding area.
The proposed structure will be a three level
parking garage, architecturally resembling the
existing garage along Del Mar and Hill. One
level will be underground, two above ground,
and a rooftop athletic field. To be built over
existing surface lot #5, the new structure will
shelter 1,485 spaces, yielding a net gain of 830
spaces.
Access to the structure will be along Bonnie
only. The primary entrance will be at the end of a
long driveway leading onto the campus to allevi¬
ate gridlock on Bonnie. The second entrance will
be 60 feet from the corner of Bonnie and Del
Mar. This entrance, similar to the entrance dri¬
veway of the existing structure along Del Mar,
will only allow cars to exit to the right.
Surface street gridlock is not anticipated to be
a problem on Bonnie according to Rod Fleeman,
vice president of administrative services. The
city of Pasadena made the determination that
Bonnie could handle the increase in cars.
“The city is not worried about the entrances.
They say the street configuration is appropriate
for expected traffic,” said Fleeman.
The MND found environmental areas of the
greatest concern and impact were the proposed
lights that will be utilized for the rooftop athletic
field, noise from the scheduled construction, and
the solid waste that will be generated from that
construction.
Located 32 feet above street level, the natural
grass rooftop athletic field will be used from 7
a.m. to 10 p.m. as a competition and practice
facility by PCC sports squads. Eight light poles
along the perimeter of the field will rise another
58 feet; however, Fleeman emphasized that the
PARKING, pg. 4
POLICE BEAT
Missing Student
Finally Found
BY ROGER CHENG
Staff Writer
Kuc Thu Nguyen, a 19-year old
student who had been missing for
five days, was found by the
Pasadena Police Department on
Monday.
She had been listed missing by
the San Gabriel Police
Department last Thursday.
Currently, the SGPD are not dis¬
closing the details concerning
where she was found.
Nguyen suffers from bi-polar
disorder and paranoid schizophre¬
nia. In the days preceding her dis¬
appearance, Nguyen’s family
claimed she had been ranting
about Armageddon and commu¬
nist conspiracies. Her father
sensed something was wrong
when she wasn’t at their usual
meeting place where she got her
rides to and from school.
When the campus police was
told that she was missing they
began distributing flyers with her
information and picture all over
the college and surrounding area.
“We put out a B.O.L.A., or a
‘be on the look out,”’ said
Sergeant Vincent Palermo. “Our
only task was to assist San Gabriel
PD in getting the flyers out and
aiding them, just like the PPD
did.”
Campus police also checked
her classes and instructors and
found she had gone to one, but
missed her other three.
The last time the campus police
saw the missing woman when she
came into the office demanding to
see the Pasadena Police. The
attending cadet had gone into the
back to alert a supervisor, but she
left before they came back.
According to San Gabriel
Detective Brian Segacio, she was
in a very nervous state at the time.
Bi-polar disorder is an afflic¬
tion in the brain that causes radical
MISSING, pg. 3
PASADENA ELECTIONS '99
Mayoral Hopefuls
Await Their Fate
BY FRED ORTEGA
Staff Writer
With Pasadena’s first ever-
open elections for mayor sched¬
uled for next Tuesday, candi¬
dates geared up their election
committees for a final week of
campaigning.
A forum was conducted last
night at All Saints church where
candidates expressed their views
on everything from drime to
local business initiatives.
Thanks to a city charter
amendment approved by
Pasadena voters last November,
the first citywide elected mayor
will serve a four-year term.
Previously, the position of mayor
was served by standing city
council members using a two-
year rotating system. There will
MAYOR, page 4
MARLENE MARTINEZ
THE COURIER
A citizen shows off which
candidate he is rooting for.
Who do you support?
DANIEL ARCHULETA
/
THE COURIER
With the way that society seems to be going these days, it may not be too long before your computer starts demanding.
Smarter Classrooms Mean Smarter Students
4
BY VICTOR J. ALDANA
Staff Writer
Do the college’s classrooms seem a bit old
fashioned to you? The Faculty Technology
Committee (FTC) thought so and have allocat¬
ed $75,000 to modernize these places of learn¬
ing.
The FTC and Faculty Senate announced that
it will sponsor proposals for integrating class¬
room technology and is actively seeking ideas
from all departments to be turned in by April 22.
This decision builds on last year’s smart
classroom idea. Six different proposals turned
in by way of a “Call for Ideas” form that was
distributed to departments were funded for
$100,000.
Except for the math department’s, five of the
proposals were carried out, including ones from
the business education, English as a Second
Language (ESL), and social sciences depart¬
ments.
Allen Dooley, instructor of mathematics and
computer studies, said one of the problems with
the large math proposal was that it required
changes to a room and physical infrastructure,
and a probable misunderstanding between peo¬
ple implementing the facility changes and those
performing them.
“The math faculty’s proposal fell through the
cracks because it was not associated with any
priority,” said Dooley.
“It has only been this semester that they have
been able to gain the necessary attention from
people like facilities and computer services to
allow the implementation of the proposal.”
According to Dooley, the FTC will probably
distribute proposal forms by the end of the week
for this year’s budget of $75,000 to the faculty
at large, and they will respectively develop pro¬
posals for using the money.
Then a subcommittee of the FTC will review
the proposals and allocate from the funds.
Ideally, proposals would be for classrooms that
require little or modest physical restructuring.
Six items need to be addressed on the proposal
form including items required for classroom
facilities, hardware and software, connection
needs, furniture, and the absolute requirement
of choosing a lead faculty member.
Most of last year’s proposals centered on
developing “smart carts,” mobile carts that can
be moved around from one room to another.
They have on them a computer, projector, VCR,
sound equipment and other technology.
The ESL faculty also received a smart board,
similar to a white board, but much more intelli¬
gent.
“You can connect it to a computer and have
what you are doing show up on the board, or
you can capture what you are writing on the
board and download it to your computer,” said
Dooley.
“The system is interesting because it is such
new technology,” said Samuel Byun.
However, there were several problems dis¬
covered in terms of acquiring the necessary
equipment and identifying who would be doing
the implementation.
“That is one reason why the math faculty
proposal has taken so long, because of all these
issues that were not really considered when the
proposals were being funded,” said Dooley.
“We are asking the faculty on this second go
round to dig a little deeper into the type of prob¬
lems they might encounter.”
Part of the struggle stems from putting tech¬
nology into old buildings on campus like the C
Building that is not wired for technology.
“It may sound easy to make a smart room in
the C Building, but it turns out it is just not that
easy. You have to do things like take out walls,
or put walls in, or apply wiring into the wall,”
said Dooley.
“All of a sudden, what sounds like a rela¬
tively easy idea turns into a major project.”
Despite some of the apparent drawbacks,
there are still positive feelings among students
concerning the project.
“It will help us learn about computers and it
will allow us to access the web in class,” said
Tirsit Kebede.
WharsontheWeb?
www.pcc-courieronline.com
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