Last week, Community activist Andrew Garsten, who has helped TERA on many occasions, sent this letter regarding the Community College Trustees: Mona Field, who lives in Eagle Rock and has long been a TERA member and supporter sent the response below:

Subject: VOTE for Los Angeles Community College Trustees, But First Ask Some Hard Questions I recently received an appeal from one of the Los Angeles Community College Trustees to get people to vote on March 3rd, and to get people to vote for a slate of incumbents. I got this letter because in the past, I have been a supporter of the members of the current board.

As a community activist that has (in part) brought opportunity, funds, and campaigned on behalf of Los Angeles City College, I need to register my caution and ask you to VOTE, but not before you ask of the incumbents and opponents some serious questions.

The incumbent Board Trustees of the Community College District, who in the past supported our efforts to bring a satellite campus to the former Van de Kamp's Bakery Building, have been directly responsible for allowing this project, that was fully funded ($70 million in bond and other funds that the community supported), that was on budget and on time, to slip dramatically.

• The project has slipped from an opening date of Fall 2006, to 2009? Later?

• A campus that included adaptively reusing the original historic office building, plus three beautiful new buildings designed by renowned architect David Ehrlich, now will only get two new buildings, with the possibility of a severely compromised Ehrlich design. The third building will most likely need to be developed later with fund raising.

• Over $20 million wasted due to a wavering Board of Trustees caught in the internal politics of fear waged by the bureaucrats and union leadership

The students of the Los Angele College District - our children, have been disserved; and we as taxpayer have been defrauded.

To make matters worse, this type of mismanagement has been rife with all of the major building projects that LACC Trustees have overseen, and that we as taxpayers have funded, mostly through bond measures.

Hardly anyone watches the Community Colleges. So when bad stuff happens, it's hard to get those involved to feel accountable. But now, it's election time. The day the bell tolls. Now is the time for us, the constituents, to make ourselves heard.

I suggest that we ask the incumbent trustees and their opponents some serious questions about fiscal responsibility. While we understand that they may rely on the unions to pay for their campaigns, need to work with the internal bureaucrats of the LACC system, and that they can and often due rely on staff when complicated decisions are being asked of them, that we expect for them to be courageous when needed. They need to remember to keep asking the same questions over and over:

"Are the students and the taxpayers being served in the best way possible?"

We (the community activists) did not let all this happen without a good fight. To say that we have been disheartened and disgusted is an understatement. There is no one in Los Angeles more sad to have to bring this report to you. And yes, we are still engaged to bring our satellite campus to life.

Please DO VOTE, but before you do, ask the incumbents Mona, Warren, Georgia, and Sylvia and their opponents, "How they will do better?"

Sincerely:

andrew garsten, Spokesperson for the Coalition to Save Van de Kamp's (amongst many hats)

From Mona Field

Dear Friends of Atwater Village and other concerned Community Members

It is a pleasure to know of your continuing active interest in the Van De Kamps project for LACC. As a resident of the area, I share your frustration about the long delays in construction at our site.

As you may know, every project we build in any K12 or Community College district in California must go through approval with the Dept of the State Architecture (DSA). In the past few years, delays with DSA have worsened as dozens of school and college districts in CA have passed bonds while the DSA budget has not increased.

In order to promote the service we need for our building reviews for LACCD, we instructed our staff to meet directly with the DSA and create better communication and timelines.

We expect to be able to start construction in a few months on the bakery building. Renovating and maintaining historic value is quite complex, as you must realize. In addition, meeting the demands of a public educational building are considerably more complex than any private home remodel or renovation.

As it turns out, the DSA had determined that the building would not be seismically stable as originally designed by our team. They had asked that a whole new seismic reinforcing system be incorporated into the building. That system will require the use of a steel support system and concrete floor reinforcements. The revised design went into DSA last week.

As soon as they give final approval, the project can go out to bid, which will involve appropriate scrutiny of bids, costs and promised dates of completion. It takes a long time to do things right when you are building for the public and must be reviewed at multiple levels before you can send in the construction crews.

We are having trouble with the architectural on the second building. They have become unresponsive. We need them to finish the drawings and get them in. If they can not be adequately motivated, we are going to need to terminate them and get another firm to wrap it up.

There is no doubt that there will be a significant challenge delivering Building 2, given our budget for the project. As you know, over the last three years, our costs have doubled due to factors that have been entirely out of our control. ALL construction costs for private homes and all public and private projects have doubled since we passed our bonds. If you want proof, try to do a remodel at home!

I encourage all concerned residents to come to our board meetings, share their concerns and hear directly on a regular basis how we are doing. ALl of our meeting dates and locations are posted online at www.laccd.edu. The Atwater project has been a long frustrating one, but ultimately, we believe the community will be pleased.

As you know, the project has received international acclaim for its combination of adaptive reuse, historic preservation and Green building features. You can find out more at h ttp://www.propositiona.org/green_room.html

It would be unfair and deceptive to give a precise date for completion, any more than your home contractor can guarantee an exact date (or if he or she does, what are the odds it will be delayed AND cost more than the original estimate? If anyone has a reliable contractor who does everything one time and in the original budget, let me know! I could use one at my own home.)

We appreciate your commitment, passion and interest. So come to our meetings, and keep on holding us accountable.

Best wishes,

Mona Field, Professor of Political Science, Glendale Community College. Member of the Board of Trustees, LACCD

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