by Chester Tadeja
Editorial Director
The corner of First and “D” streets houses the remains of some the University’s old pieces of buildings, office equipment and other facilities junk. The accumulation of this junk has been an eye-sore for the University since Facilities Management moved what it calls its “yard” to its present day location.
The University and Facilities Management have plans to convert the 2,000 square-foot yard into a parking lot, a move that will accommodate the University’s on-going parking problem.
The yard is a temporary storing facility for the University. The yard was last cleaned-out two and-a-half years ago.
“It’s been cleaned up twice,” said Brian Worley, director of facilities management. “But, it just seems that it’s part of the nature of the University, in its terms of its growth and revamping, that [we] continue to generate ‘cast-offs.’”
“I have an agreement with the State of Baja Department of Education where they can come up here and send a semi-truck to take everything we give them,” said Worley. “However, with the political dilemmas and financial expenses accommodating the trip, we haven’t been able to get rid of anything and that bothers me. What bothers me most is [not] getting the connection from Mexico to work.”
Worley is starting to explore other alternatives on how to rid the University of its junk.
“The operating philosophy is that we don’t really want to send anything to the landfills,” said Worley. “The city would like [the yard] to be situated somewhere else.”
Schools in San Felipe, Mexico, have found many of the items given to them from the University’s yard useful. According to Worley, a school in San Felipe has benefitted from an entire computer system donated to them last year.
“They’re making use for it down there,” said Worley. “It’s an old Tandy computer system that would have been thrown out into the landfills. But they will put to use anything we send them.”
The University is contemplating sending Worley or his crew down to Mexico to help deliver the items, but for the time being is unable to do so.
“[We are] starting to entertain the idea, but it’s costly,” said Worley. “But if anyone knows anyone who will volunteer their time and a semi-truck, we’d be interested.”
Some of the more obvious items found in the yard include the old Health Center bubbles, broken walls from different campus buildings, broken chairs and desks and a variety of other items that the University no longer uses.
“It is my intent that once it is cleaned out [and paved for parking], landscaping would [cover the yard], so that the view of the yard would be less offensive,” said Worley. “The bottom line is that when you have an institution like this [ULV], storage is required. Our space is so small here that it overflows into the yard. But we can mediate the use of the storage out there.”
