ON CAMPUS ‘shy;’mdash; The university may shelve a long-standing campus green project in favor of restoring a surface parking lot ‘mdash; totally contradicting its goals for environmental sustainability.
UCSD Physical Planning specialists drafted a plan 15 years ago for a four-phase sustainable open space consisting mostly of trees, plants and pathways to be completed within Eleanor Roosevelt College, called the Wedge.
The first three phases of the plan were completed over the last six years (phases one and two in 2003 with the completion of ERC, and phase three in 2007 with the completion of the Rady School of Management). Each phase of the project found funding from varying sources, corresponding with the beneficiaries of the specific phase.
Phase three, for instance, cost roughly $1.5 million by its completion in 2007 and was funded equally by Academic Affairs and campus resources.
The fourth and final phase was to be completed with the new North Campus transfer-student housing by this June.
The area (dubbed Wedge Four) was paved 20 years ago and has been used as a surface parking lot. It presently serves as a construction lay-down for the North Campus housing development. But in the absence of sufficient funding for the estimated $2 million project, the administration has suggested the space be used as a temporary surface lot ‘mdash; a prospect that might not seem so underhanded were it not the opposite of the space’s intended use.
Brian Gregory, assistant vice chancellor for Strategic Campus Resource Initiatives, and Brian D’Autremont, director of Parking Transportation and Services, discussed giving the space to Parking and Transportation Services for five years, to create a temporary surface lot. The lot would have 125 to 150 spots for ‘S’ and ‘B’ permit holders. According to Gregory, the university is committed to completing Wedge Four but lacks sufficient funding.
Though every surface lot is intended to be a temporary placeholder, many of the spaces lack future building plans, making them temporary strictly in theory. There’s no guarantee that a temporary Wedge Four surface lot wouldn’t be accepted as permanent time.
Restoring another surface lot would reveal the hypocrisy of both our supposedly green university and P’amp;TS. P’amp;TS promotes alternative forms of transit, having tripled the size of its free bus program with plans for route expansion.
But nothing with the lot is final yet. D’Autremont said P’amp;TS is interested in using the area as a surface lot.
The student-run Social ‘amp; Environmental Sustainability Committee hopes to prevent Wedge Four from becoming a surface lot. On Feb. 25, the A.S. Council approved its resolution, which provided alternatives to converting the space into a parking lot. One alternative was seeking Wedge Four funding from campus departments such as Physical Planning, and from green technology businesses before abandoning the project.
Another possibility allows student groups to compete to use the land temporarily for sustainable purposes, such as an urban farm or garden, which would effectively maintain the Wedge’s primary goal at minimal cost to the university.
Were the administration committed to increasing sustainability, solutions like these would have been investigated and researched before the P’amp;TS possibility was even discussed. Lacking the full $2 million for Wedge Four’s concept is no excuse to cast aside sustainability plans; this final phase was, after all, supposed to be completed in a few months’ time.
Asking student orgs to pitch cost-ef
fective, temporary alternatives to the current Wedge Four concept and considering those suggestions would advance sustainability goals without compromise.’
Though we are facing economic hardship, and certain projects lack’ funding, that’s no justification for throwing our ideals to the wind.
Even if we can’t complete Wedge Four right now, we won’t see progress if we stall plans ‘mdash; and we cannot justly call UCSD a leader in sustainability if we allow Wedge Four to become another surface lot.
Readers can contact Trevor Cox at [email protected].