PIERCE COLLEGE : Measure Could Bring $20 Million

Pierce College will receive $20 million over the next five years to upgrade its aging campus if voters approve Measure C on the April 19 ballot.

The Community College Improvement Measure allows the Los Angeles Community College District to sell $200 million in bonds over the next five years for the improvement and purchase of property at the district’s nine campuses.

The district Board of Trustees voted Wednesday to divide the money evenly 10 ways--$20 million for each campus and $20 million to be set aside for an emergency fund.

Pierce College President Dan Means said the administration plans to build several new buildings, including a health technology center for medical instruction and a student center to house all of the school’s student services.

Currently, these services are spread all over campus.

Means said he also plans to use the money for parking lot repairs, air conditioning and a computer lab at Pierce.

Trustee Wallace Knox said the measure, the result of two years of planning and preparation, should be successful because a poll conducted by a professional firm indicated voters would be receptive.

Larry Levin of Larry Levin and Associates, which the district has contracted to handle its campaign, said the poll showed that between 63% and 69% of voters within the district would vote in favor of the measure.

It requires 66.7% voter approval to pass.

“The feeling after the survey was that it had an excellent chance of passing,” Means said.

The money to repay the bonds will be raised through property taxes within the district and will cost the average homeowner about $2.35 a year, Levin said.

Larry Serot, district vice chancellor of business services, estimated the cost at $6 to $8 a year but noted that even this figure is low. “The cost is so astonishingly low that we want people to know it,” he said.

Knox said the district chose April 19 as the election date because the highly contested Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors race on that ballot should draw more voters to the polls.

Trustee Harold Garvin said voter statistics show that though bond measures were defeated in November, they were generally favored in Los Angeles County, especially in minority districts.