New Pierce President Vows to Revitalize Agriculture Program

The newly appointed president of Pierce College assured Woodland Hills residents Thursday night that the school’s agriculture program will grow--even if its farmland shrinks.

Daniel Means told members of the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization that a special committee is completing a study of ways of revitalizing Pierce’s struggling agriculture curriculum. He said a second panel will soon be formed to come up with a long-range master plan for use of campus land.

“I can guarantee you that the agriculture program at Pierce will continue,” Means told about 60 residents meeting at the Pacific Boys Lodge in Woodland Hills. “We may not need all the land . . . we don’t know yet.”

Members of the homeowners group, which recently sued the Los Angeles Community College District to overturn the lease of 17 acres of surplus Pierce land, listened solemnly as Means pledged that the group will have a voice in college land-use planning recommendations.

But Means, who begins full-time work as Pierce’s president on June 1, stressed that it will be up to him or college trustees to determine how the 400-acre campus is used in the future.

“We think there is a need for an agriculture program in the San Fernando Valley and in the Los Angeles area,” Means said. “But how it is put together and the size of it . . . will probably change. It would be an absolute shame to do away with the agriculture program at Pierce.”

The meeting was the first between Means and community representatives since his selection a month ago by college district trustees. He admitted that he is Los Angeles-born and raised, and has no farm background.

‘Rely on the Experts’

“I’ll rely on the experts to tell me where we should go,” he said.

Acknowledging that the Pierce agriculture department has been split by debate over how to solve problems of sagging enrollment, Means said an early goal will be to “try to mend all those wounds.”

Rosemary Woodlock, president of the homeowner group, said Means’ background as a college district labor negotiator could help with that task.

But because the homeowners will go to Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday to press their case against the college district over the lease, she declined to let organization members question Means specifically about that issue.

Means told the group that he is not fully aware of all of the issues surrounding the controversial Warner Ridge office project proposal outside the southwestern edge of the college campus.