2008 Woodie Awards
Don't Touch It
Kathy Arellano
Issue date: 3/2/05 Section: Opinion
Who hasn't hidden money inside your wallet, vowing to not touch it, only to pull it out without a moment's hesitation to pay for a round of double lattes.
Well, the Valley College Facilities Master Plan Committee seems to be doing something like that with the $20 million that was previously earmarked for its new Media Arts building which would combine and upgrade the existing cinema, commercial music, graphic arts, media arts, journalism and photography disciplines, all the while assuring us that if the money isn't used for anything else, we can still have the facility - Yeah, right.
I think that $20-million stash is bound to be used for many other things, leaving the blueprints for future communicators moldering in a drawer.
Apparently, the construction team Valley hired for its long-awaited renovation project - has put the brakes on all work until Valley reconciles its budget.
And the only way the planning committee says it can make the numbers jive is to axe a big-ticket item, such as the Media Arts building.
Funding for the district-wide project originated with the passing of Bond measures A in April 2001 and AA in May 2003, with the stipulation that the monies be spent on restoring and improving the nine community college campuses - schools which provide education for more than 130,000 students per year and have educated more than a million people now working in 100 local communities.
This is the age of technological communication. Everyone depends heavily on media technology for information, entertainment and even our own education. Modern television stations will, by a recent FCC mandate, completely convert to high definition programming before the end of this decade, forcing non-HDTV owners to buy peripheral equipment. Imagine all the new jobs that technology will create.
Those same TV stations have websites that contain streaming digital video which has been created, edited, uploaded and managed by individuals with strong technical skills, many of which could be acquired at the community college level.
This bright new field will no doubt experience a tremendous, exponential growth in the not-too-distant future. How will Valley students compete for those jobs?
They won't, unless the Media Arts facility is built.
To prepare students to work on the cutting edge of technology, Valley planners must put a higher priority on facilities that represent that new category of learning.
So, put that money back in your wallet, FMPC - make the Media Arts building happen.
Well, the Valley College Facilities Master Plan Committee seems to be doing something like that with the $20 million that was previously earmarked for its new Media Arts building which would combine and upgrade the existing cinema, commercial music, graphic arts, media arts, journalism and photography disciplines, all the while assuring us that if the money isn't used for anything else, we can still have the facility - Yeah, right.
I think that $20-million stash is bound to be used for many other things, leaving the blueprints for future communicators moldering in a drawer.
Apparently, the construction team Valley hired for its long-awaited renovation project - has put the brakes on all work until Valley reconciles its budget.
And the only way the planning committee says it can make the numbers jive is to axe a big-ticket item, such as the Media Arts building.
Funding for the district-wide project originated with the passing of Bond measures A in April 2001 and AA in May 2003, with the stipulation that the monies be spent on restoring and improving the nine community college campuses - schools which provide education for more than 130,000 students per year and have educated more than a million people now working in 100 local communities.
This is the age of technological communication. Everyone depends heavily on media technology for information, entertainment and even our own education. Modern television stations will, by a recent FCC mandate, completely convert to high definition programming before the end of this decade, forcing non-HDTV owners to buy peripheral equipment. Imagine all the new jobs that technology will create.
Those same TV stations have websites that contain streaming digital video which has been created, edited, uploaded and managed by individuals with strong technical skills, many of which could be acquired at the community college level.
This bright new field will no doubt experience a tremendous, exponential growth in the not-too-distant future. How will Valley students compete for those jobs?
They won't, unless the Media Arts facility is built.
To prepare students to work on the cutting edge of technology, Valley planners must put a higher priority on facilities that represent that new category of learning.
So, put that money back in your wallet, FMPC - make the Media Arts building happen.
