Lessons in red tape at SMC
SANTA MONICA COLLEGE — Nearly 30,000 Santa Monica college students started their fall semester on Monday, some having more trouble than others getting to class.
Santa Monica College officials on Monday said that students who made it to Beach Parking Lot No. 5 quickly received free parking permits and were bussed to SMC’s main campus at 1900 Pico Boulevard to begin their fall classes. Meanwhile, students unaware of recent changes to SMC’s shuttling program arrived at the Santa Monica Airport parking lot expecting a ride to the main campus, but were then mired in confusion.
“It was a pretty confusing situation at the airport,” said Tom Donner, SMC’s interim president. “Unfortunately, students were overflowing into areas where they shouldn’t be parking.”
Beach Parking Lot No. 5, located south of Ocean Park Boulevard on Barnard Way, will be open to SMC students from 6:45 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Thursday.
The airport shuttle lot will be open during the day for students enrolled in classes at the Bundy Campus. The shuttle lot will also be open for shuttling service during the evenings and all day Friday.
City Hall considers SMC’s shuttle service at the beach lot a short-term solution for the college as it works to secure its own permanent shuttle lot. The college says it’s working diligently to find one.
To notify students of the changes, the college has posted information on its Web site and distributed literature on campus.
Faculty is being asked to be patient with students arriving late to class until they are familiar with schedules and logistics.
Bruce Smith, SMC spokesman, said the college’s first-day student enrollment was 29,522, up 1.22 percent from last year at this time, when it was 29,167.
College officials hope to acquire 550 more full time students this year. That would restore $2 million in funding lost in the past few years due to declining enrollment figures.
After the college reaches this enrollment mark, it will not be seeking any further expansion of its facilities in Santa Monica in order to increase the number of students it serves, Donner said. The college is also hopeful the state’s funding formula will change in coming months so there is not an emphasis on growth.
Officials from City Hall, SMC and West LA met two weeks ago to begin addressing messy traffic and parking issues related to the airport shuttle lot and SMC’s nearby Bundy satellite campus. As a result, it was agreed SMC will begin using Beach Parking Lot No. 5 as a temporary solution for parking and shuttle service to and from SMC’s main campus. Meanwhile, City Hall continues to restrict students from having vehicular access to the Bundy campus and the airport shuttle lot.
Students who are taking classes at the Bundy satellite campus are allowed to park in the airport shuttle lot and walk across Airport Avenue to get to class. SMC students who are not taking classes at Bundy are prohibited from parking at the airport shuttle lot.
However, City Hall may be making efforts to open up some parking to continue bussing students from the airport to the main campus for the next three weeks, college officials said.
Donner said three weeks is about as much time needed before students adjust their schedules and know the routine they will need to have to persevere this fall.
“They’re learning a lot right now,” Donner said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 30, 2005. Read the original PDF.