HUNTINGTON PARK : ELAC Satellite Campus to Open

Plans to open an annex of East Los Angeles College here have been salvaged and classes are scheduled to begin in January, city and college officials said.

“I think we have here an incredible opportunity not only for the Huntington Park community but for the entire Southeast area,” said Assemblywoman Martha M. Escutia (D-Huntington Park), one of several state officials who attended a City Council meeting last week to show support for the college satellite.

State Sen. Charles M. Calderon, (D-Whittier) who was also at the meeting, called the project innovative and overdue. “(Students here) are entitled to have the same opportunity that other students have in other parts of this county,” Calderon said.

The annex proposal had hit a snag in August when three City Council members objected to allocating $300,000 in federal grant money to fund the project, saying the city should weigh other program needs.

Annex advocates, who feared the delay would kill the proposal, spent two months lobbying state and local officials to raise interest in the project and elicit financial commitments in preparation for the Oct. 21 council meeting.

After hearing testimony from state officials and learning that East Los Angeles College would contribute $100,000 to the annex this year, the City Council approved the project, 4 to 0, and allocated $36,000 to the project. Councilman William P. Cunningham was absent.

Councilman Thomas E. Jackson, who initially had opposed the annex, calling it a “grandiose idea,” said, “The only objection I had was that it was going to be a college for the Southeast area but that the city of Huntington Park was going to be the only city to participate in funding of the college.”

Escutia promised to seek additional money from the private sector to help finance the annex. In addition to East Los Angeles College’s financial commitment, surrounding cities have been asked to contribute $24,000 a year toward the school.

Ernest Moreno, vice president of academic affairs at East Los Angeles College, said that the college cannot guarantee future financial support for the Huntington Park annex but said he was optimistic that funding would increase over the years.

The annex, in a 34,000-square-foot area on the second floor of the Pacific Bell building at 2675 Zoe Ave., will offer 40 classes to as many as 1,200 students in the first semester.

Vocational training, English as a Second Language courses, and classes on child development and basic reading and writing will be available. The school will also offer a program that gives students who work full time the chance to earn enough credits to transfer to four-year institutions after just five semesters, Moreno said.