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January 15, 2009, 01:12 PM ET
Amid a California Construction Freeze, L.A. Community Colleges Push Forward With Plans
As we’ve noted here many times, construction and renovation projects have been among the casualties of college belt-tightening. Most recently, we noted a proposed suspension of construction in Indiana.
The University of California and California State University systems have both suspended construction projects. The shutdown could affect some $1-billion in projects in the Cal State system alone, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
But apparently the California suspension doesn’t affect plans at the Los Angeles Community College District. The Los Angeles Times reports that the community-college district is pushing ahead with $400-million in projects on its $5.7-billion plan, one of the largest higher-education expansion plans in the country.
What’s more, the community college’s construction plans include some very green design; officials at the community college have said they are planning to take the college off the grid. (It’s not clear how the economic downturn has affected those plans. The Times story says that “some” buildings are expected to be zero-energy buildings.)
The construction is supported by voter-approved bonds. Mark Drummond, chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District, told the Times that because his bonds were backed by property taxes, not tax revenues, the community colleges were not hurt quite like the state. Besides, he told the paper, “construction costs are getting lower. … There was no sense to delay.”
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