Buildings, Better Technology Coming to 2 College Campuses

Long Beach City College’s two campuses are about to receive a face lift, thanks to a $176-million bond issue voters approved last year.

At the historic Liberal Arts Campus on Carson Street, an empty lot across from the red-tiled Spanish colonial main campus will be the site for new classrooms and offices. At the Pacific Coast Campus north of downtown Long Beach, new buildings for aviation technology, automotive technology and a child development center will be added.

“The expansion will allow us to bring our building up to current standards with technology,” said the college president, Jan Kehoe. “That will indeed benefit the students and will prepare them to transfer to other colleges or in their jobs.”

The new classrooms will include large TV screens, access to the Internet and wireless technology for laptops, said Eloy Oakley, the college’s vice president of administrative services.

The projects concentrate on building more classrooms because student demand has outgrown the college’s current structures, Kehoe said.

The bond measure, Measure E, was approved by 65% of Long Beach voters in March 2002. An oversight committee will review all work.

With state funding cuts expected, the bonds will still allow the college to keep up to date with technology, Kehoe said.

“Bonds mean everything for the future of the college,” Kehoe said. “There are so many needs statewide that there is just enough money to fund the community colleges. We couldn’t be prepared for the future without this local bond.”

Founded in 1927, the college serves more than 30,000 students, and enrollment is expected to increase in the next few years. Most of the college buildings were erected in the 1930s and ‘40s.

Construction at the Pacific Coast Campus will start in the fall. The project on the Liberal Arts Campus is to begin next spring. Both projects are expected to be completed in 2006, Kehoe said.