A critical boost to the educational worth of Pierce College, as well as that of the other eight schools in the Los Angeles Community College District, is awaiting approval at the polls this year.
If 55 percent of voters within LACCD boundaries vote “Yes” on Measure J, the district would receive $3.5 billion in bonds that would fund construction and renovation projects over the next decade.
For Pierce College, passage of Measure J would mean adding new buildings including Green Technologies, Digital Arts and Media and a new library and Learning Resources Center. It would also allow upgrades to the Performing Arts Building, Automotive and Technical Education, the horticulture area and the campus landscape.
Measure J – for jobs – would add more classrooms and equipment to the nine colleges in the district, which in turn would support more students, professors and workers. It would provide money that would be used to fund training for students who could replace workers retiring from careers at in-demand technology jobs including the Department of Water and Power, Metro and Union Pacific.
The money would help move the district along in its overall progress toward becoming primarily “green.” LACCD Chancellor Marshall Drummond said the district would be independent for 80 percent of its consumed energy by 2009 if the measure passes.
Pierce President Robert Garber said the measure would create 29,000 construction jobs among the nine district colleges.
Aside from helping the planet, this means training laboratories would be constructed to prepare students for newly implemented technologies, including solar and fuel-cell energy, providing more jobs for students entering the workforce.
Those who oppose Measure J claim its passage would time poorly with the economic crisis sweeping the nation. The benefits to be reaped from providing a better education to tens of thousands of students, as well as from implementing crucial energy-efficient equipment into campus infrastructures, would soon prove the worth of this investment.
Taxpayers would not take on a heavier load if Measure J were to pass. An Oct. 3 L.A. Times editorial points out that taxpayers pay $17 for every $100,000 of “assessed value” to community colleges, but instead of raising that $17, it would just continue to be paid for an extra 10 years.
Measure J wouldn’t only help Pierce, or even just the district. It will help generations of students, laborers and citizens who would benefit from the increased knowledge and economic output of the workforce as a whole.
Jessie Lomeli (Jessie Lomeli)