Bond funds GA lift project

EDITOR's NOTE: This article originally published in The Advocate on Dec. 7, 2011. To view original post, visit AccentAdvocate.com.

Installation of an elevator in the 40-year-old Gym Annex Building is scheduled for next year, finally making its second floor accessible to students with disabilities.

Half a million dollars from the 2002 Measure A bond will go to putting a prefabricated lift in the northwest corner of the GA Building, by the tennis courts, district Projects Manager Burl Toler said.

He said it's been an idea floating around for years, but only in the last five to six months has it been seriously considered.

"Finally we've had an architect do design work," he said.

Contra Costa College Buildings and Grounds Manager Bruce King said the all-in-one elevator unit will be "easier to shove in" on the side of the building by the tennis courts and have the project completed before fall 2012.

The GA Building is the only two story building on campus without an elevator and one classroom on the top floor, GA-50, is used by the physical education department to hold lecture-based classes needed to transfer or graduate.

Yasuko "Sue" Abe, disability support services manager, said two Health Education 120 courses, required for transfer to UC and CSU, were relocated this semester because GA-50 was inaccessible.

"I don't think there should be a barrier just because you have a physical disability," said ASU President Rodney Wilson, who serves on the Measure A Citizen's Oversight Committee. "You have the same rights as someone fully able-bodied."

This has been an issue since the college began holding classes in the building, but the number of the courses held in that room has been changed to accommodate mobility-impaired students.

In fall 2007, six of the eight health education sections at CCC were held in GA-50.

As an alternative, the course is held in other large lecture rooms, including LA-100 and in the Music Building.

However, the M Building is under construction this semester and its sections were moved to the Humanities Building left vacated by student services moving to its new building.

"We didn't have a choice (in classrooms this semester)," Abe said.

Physical education department Chairperson Beth Goehring teaches one of the two courses moved from GA-50 and said the installation of an elevator in the building will be wonderful.

"I've been requesting one (elevator) for at least 10 years," she said. "We have a classroom we are using for lecture for health, but it is difficult for some students to make it up the stairs without an elevator."

Goehring said most offices in the building are located on the second floor as well, increasing the level of difficulty for students to reach their professors during office hours.

Interim Vice President Donna Floyd said there is more to getting the elevator installed than just shoving it into place, but remains optimistic it will be completed on schedule.

She said the steps to completion include a bidding process, approval by the Governing Board and then construction.

"I'm hoping that it is a little bit more than just the elevator," she said. "But I don't think we have the budget to support the design that includes a redesign of the building the elevator will be on."

These plans include architectural changes to the GA Building to extend the current roofline to accommodate the elevator shaft as well as a ramp into the building.

"It is important that we provide access for all of our students and make the building more accessible," Floyd said.