The emergence of two of the campus’s most socially pertinent storylines – the blockage of construction on a Jewish Hillel Center and new restrictions on “”mini-dorms”” – has underscored UCSD’s hollow rapport with the city of La Jolla. The promises to improve the relationship made during this A.S. election offer us an opportunity to approach the oft-nebulous issue with a set of concrete solutions.

And while pacifists may gloss over the recent developments about Hillel and the mini-dorms, this board finds the coupling of the two events alarmingly indicative of the current state of affairs. The world for UCSD students is already small, and our neighbors seem bent on keeping it that way.

UCSD’s Hillel Center is a product of years of work that has included student politicians of the past (John Muir College alumnus Neil Spears), present (presidential candidate Dan Palay) and a host of others in between. Its close proximity to Revelle College would have offered a convenient religious center for students but, more importantly, its positive effect on campus spirit would have been invaluable.

The innocuous intent of the Hillel Center makes La Jolla’s stance all the more surprising. The city has taken the offensive, using a lawsuit to shut down construction. Increased foot traffic and environmental impact, according to the local citizen plaintiffs, will make the locale unbearably condensed.

That uncompromising mentality is reflected citywide, with San Diego city councilman Jim Madaffer leading a charge to impose on-the-spot fines on disruptive households. The move is meant to stunt a hefty number of complaints from single-family residences about local “”mini-dorms”” (the crammed dwellings that house multiple student-tenants under one roof in an attempt to save money on rent).

Madaffer’s proposal has now been implemented in the San Diego State University area. If successful, the ordinance will be applied citywide, and the immediate impact on students will be dire. Landlords will likely try to cover the possible cost of fines by raising the cost of rent. Intangibly, the atmosphere of La Jolla will become even more unwelcoming to one of the neighborhood’s largest population groups: students.

While those developments are disconcerting, the backbone of several platforms in this year’s A.S. election revolve around creating, strengthening and maintaining relationships in the La Jolla and, in the future, greater San Diego community. For most presidential candidates – Student Voice!’s Marco Murillo, SHOCK!’s Palay and independent candidate Michael Hirshman – the success of such an endeavor will hinge on the council’s new local affairs office. The department, headed by Muir junior Aida Kuzucan, was formed after this year’s massive council reorganization, and is intended to act as a communicative bridge to the campus’ surrounding community.

The two issues will present the first major, multi-faceted problem for the council’s new department, while the outcome should be used as a barometer for the office’s future usefulness.

Establishing a dialogue with pertinent neighborhood leaders will be the initial step, a sentiment all the candidates have echoed. But anything beyond that will be an uphill battle, and this board fears immediate progress may be unreachable. Is there any argument that can win over locals who are unwilling build a community center for students because of the foot traffic of 120 more people?

It is truly sad that our own community is so inflexible to our needs; students add vibrancy to the neighborhood, spend money in its malls and represent a diverse populace beyond San Diego’s predominantly “”W.A.S.P.”” demographic of baby boomers and retirees.

One could even extrapolate the argument: the locale’s standoffish attitude toward students, and its extensive willingness to excise all aspects of UCSD from the neighborhood that surrounds it, may be a reflection on the campus’s own shortcomings in establishing community within its own borders.

Such a view adds urgency to UCSD’s need to resolve both the internal and external problems that, if they balloon, would make local life increasingly difficult for students.