‘UC Diamond Bar’: Both City, County Like the Sound of It

It’s just one among 50 cities in the state that have flooded the University of California with letters and phone calls, each wanting to host one of the three new UC campuses to be built by the beginning of the 21st Century.

But with the recent endorsement of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Diamond Bar officials are optimistic that their city of 46,700 people will catch the attention of university officials.

“We meet all the qualifications,” Diamond Bar Councilman John Forbing said. “We have low-cost housing in the area, transportation, open land, freeway access, and there are jobs available.”

On Monday, the supervisors voted 3 to 0, with Deane Dana and Kenneth Hahn absent, to support the concept of UC Diamond Bar. The motion, proposed by Supervisor Pete Schabarum, was amended to also suggest building a campus in the Antelope Valley. Among the several other Los Angeles County cities that have asked for a campus are Lancaster, Palmdale and Santa Clarita.

‘Logical Area’

Meanwhile, on Wednesday a member of the legislative analyst’s staff testified before the Senate Education Committee that the three new campuses are unnecessary.

The county resolution says Diamond Bar is a “logical area for this new Southern California campus. . . . The surrounding San Gabriel Valley, Pomona and Walnut Valley areas are mature communities with diverse population as characterized by ethnic, economic and age demographics. There is strong community support and facilities, including medical, educational, environmental, transportation, communication and housing.”

Last year, the UC Board of Regents determined that three new campuses are needed to absorb the impact of burgeoning enrollment at the nine existing campuses. Officials indicated that one will probably be built in Northern California, one in Southern California and one in the Central Valley.

By Oct. 19, a group of consultants will have narrowed the list to 50 to 60 possible sites. That list will be shortened to 15 by February, 1990, and to eight by next July. In October, 1990, the final three will be selected. Construction of the campuses, each estimated to cost $300 million, will start by the end of 1991.

As the deadline approaches, UC headquarters in Oakland has been flooded with expressions of interest from chambers of commerce, city and county officials, and residents all over the state, university spokesman Rick Malaspina said.

Diamond Bar sent UC the council’s resolution shortly after it passed. Other cities are taking more elaborate measures. In Redding in Northern California, Malaspina said, T-shirts are for sale sporting UC’s blue and gold emblem along with the hopeful message “I support UC Redding.” Officials there have also sent the university a videotape of the area. And in Mariposa, seventh-graders at a local school have started a letter-writing campaign.

Meanwhile, in Palm Springs, Mayor Sonny Bono has written a letter to the university boasting about his area’s many amenities.

Said Forbing of Diamond Bar’s decidedly low-key approach: “I would imagine printing up T-shirts isn’t going to have a whole lot of do with the regents’ decision.”