By Delayed construction projects have come to define Cal State Long Beach in recent years.
With delays in renovations for the Parkside College dining hall, several Liberal Arts buildings and the art lockers, many students have been inconvenienced.
Renovations for Liberal Arts buildings 2,3 and 4 were due to be completed by August.
Earlier this month, however, university officials pushed the deadline back again to December 2014.
CSULB Vice President of Physical Planning and Facilities Management David Salazar said the deadline was pushed so active learning classrooms could be installed in the LA buildings.
While it’s good that CSULB is installing state-of-the-art classrooms that will benefit many students, it comes with a price.
Many professors have been displaced from their normal classrooms in the LA buildings and now hold their classes elsewhere. In these other classrooms, they may not have access to the same teaching tools, such as projectors.
Delays at the Parkside dining hall have also inconvenienced many students, particularly residents.
Also, because the temporary dining hall sits on valuable parking spots, some students living off-campus have even been affected by the changes.
According to CSULB Housing and Residential Life Director Carol Roberts-Corb, Parkside dining hall may open in early November when it was originally scheduled to open by the beginning of this semester.
Additionally, after the old art lockers’ closure in fall 2012, the new art lockers are due to be completed by the end of the semester, according to CSULB Director of the School of Art Jay Kvapil.
The new art lockers were originally set to open by this semester as well.
For art students, the delay leaves them even longer without storage facilities for their art boards, canvases and paints.
While we understand that renovations and repairs do not always run smoothly, we are upset with the recent delays.
With so many delays, we can’t help but doubt that the Parkside dining hall, three LA buildings and new art lockers will be open on time.
What’s more upsetting is the apparent lack of urgency in completing these projects. Each project has seen at least one delay; the LA buildings have seen two.
The only project under construction now, also, is the Parkside dining hall. Construction for the other two hasn’t started yet.
The longer the construction takes, the more students are affected.
We wonder how many more delays will happen before any of these projects see completion.
Instead of getting students’ hopes up, university officials should set a realistic deadline for each of these projects and honor it.
After all, we’re waiting for projects that should already be done.
