College’s plans upset neighbors

When Lorrai Brown graduated from Hollywood High School, she felt ill prepared to rush into life at a four-year university.

“I wanted to come to Santa Monica College first and . . . learn my basics,” Brown said. Now in her second year, she hopes to transfer to USC or UCLA once she earns her two-year associate of arts degree.

Tens of thousands of students like Brown have gravitated to the school, widely viewed as the crown jewel of the Los Angeles area’s community colleges. Operating from a bustling main campus on Pico Boulevard and four satellite operations, the college is known particularly for strong programs in math and science, English and the arts.

Over the years, the school’s success has fomented tensions with neighbors over traffic and parking. Even though the college has collaborated with the city and its Big Blue Bus system to ease the problems, some residents contend that they continue to suffer unduly as students drop trash and talk on cellphones while waiting for the buses that rumble through the Sunset Park neighborhood.

The college, which has seen a construction boom in recent years, is poised to embark on an ambitious plan to build a new math and earth sciences building and replace facilities damaged by the 1994 Northridge earthquake. A $295-million bond measure that would fund some of the work will go before voters Tuesday.

The board of the Friends of Sunset Park, the neighborhood association, has officially opposed Measure AA, saying the college has failed to deal with some of the neighborhood issues and should curtail its growth to avoid exacerbating congestion.

“The college has been selling the proposition as a safety and modernization measure,” said Zina Josephs, the board president. However, she added, she has attended board of trustees meetings where discussions would suggest that the college needs new and better facilities because it is actively recruiting new students to increase enrollment and thereby income.

The measure has the endorsements of a broad coalition of municipal agencies and groups and city leaders, including a unanimous City Council.

“I’ve seen a sea change in attitude and approach with the neighborhood,” said Councilman Richard Bloom, who lives in Sunset Park and opposed two previous bond measures. “Things still aren’t perfect, but we have a remade college board and a new college president who are . . . actively working to address issues.”

The school is particularly proud of its “any line, any time” initiative with the Big Blue Bus system, which allows students, faculty and staff at the college to ride free. The $1.2-million program is funded about equally by the school and by an optional fee most students pay.

Since its August launch, the program has dramatically increased ridership along the Pico Boulevard corridor and reduced daily car trips into the neighborhood by more than 2,200, said Linda Gamberg, a spokeswoman for Big Blue.

For some residents, however, “any line, any time” has been far from a blessing. More than 100 buses travel on 20th Street each weekday, contrasted with 26 trips before 2007. “The buses shake my house,” said Jeff Bender, who lives at 20th and Pearl streets in the house his grandfather built in 1949.

Even though the neighborhood, after a heated battle with the college, persuaded the city to institute permit parking many years ago, some residents say students ignore the signs and park anyway.

The main campus’ focal point is a new $9.5-million quad studded with palm trees and fountains. Nearby are the Humanities Building and the Theater Arts Building, which replaced structures damaged in the 1994 earthquake.

According to spokesman Donald Girard, strong growth in the 1990s helped the college strengthen programs and services. It created a new campus site in support of digital media and a new workforce and economic development office in partnership with area business and industry. The school also launched a new facilities master plan, began offering online courses, expanded its performing arts and improved its orientation and counseling services.

State budget cuts five years ago drove down enrollment to 1998 levels. Girard said the college “has been in recovery the last six years and expects to reach full recovery this semester.” Enrollment numbers can be tricky, but the college’s total head count this fall was 33,050, including 3,000 emeritus students and 1,000 “dual enrollment” high school students who don’t take classes at the main campus. The overall count is a few hundred shy of the 2002 peak.

The college anticipates that most of its future growth will be handled with online courses and that the acceptance of public transit will continue to flourish. About 20% of the school’s students earning credits take classes online. A public transit shuttle that takes students from campus to campus has also proved popular.

Louise Jaffe, a college trustee who lives in Sunset Park, said she looks forward in particular to another improvement that the bond money would fund. Plans are to create a pull-off bus plaza on Pico that would consolidate two bus stops and ensure that eastbound buses no longer have to stop in the right-hand lane.

In addition to its plans for modernizing or replacing damaged buildings, the college intends to construct a building at its Bundy campus, next to the Santa Monica Airport, that will house a new program in global logistics, projected to be a hot field in the region.

“In this economy, we’re seeing a lot of pressure to accommodate people who are out of work so that they can get training and knowledge for new jobs,” said college President Chui L. Tsang. “We are balancing the needs of the community with the need to provide a service.”

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martha.groves@latimes.com