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wednesday
December 8, 2010
The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
Funding for Castetter Hall addition dries up DE
S P E R ATE
ti m e s by Ruben Hamming-Green rhamminggreen@gmail.com
The Castetter Hall addition, the hulking construction project next to the Yale bus stop, will not be completed by its scheduled April deadline. Melissa Vargas, the strategic planner with the Provost’s Office, said the first and third floors would be built, but not usable. She couldn’t say when the building will be completed — if at all — since Bond D failed during the Nov. 2 election, leaving no available funding sources.
work in the biology department, and the new lab space would provide students more work opportunities and study space. “When you get new space it allows you to do new things and do things better, but I don’t think it’ll harm the (students) that we have now ...” he said. “It was a disappointment, but also a motivation to make sure that it does get done eventually.” Vargas said the biology annex would have been demolished after the Castetter Hall addition was completed, but it will remain at least for the foreseable future. “It’s a small and very dysfunctional building,” she said. “It’s one of those buildings that’s very old and is an energy hog, and it’s just not functional for the current way they’re doing biology.” ASUNM Sen. Daniel Parker, a biology student, said he was disappointed when he heard that Castetter Hall would not be completed.
“Who wants to come to UNM where we have half of a biology building?” ~Daniel Parker ASUNM Senator “We’ll continue with the legislative strategy,” she said. “It might take a couple of years, but that’s the primary way we get capital dollars. It remains a top priority for the Provost’s Office. We just don’t currently have an identifiable funding source.” Only the building’s second floor will be operational. Bond D would have provided $3.8 million toward the building’s $9.9 million cost. The biology building addition will function primarily as laboratory space. Richard Cripps, chair of the biology department, said 140 undergraduate employees
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “If the taxpayers aren’t going to do it, I think the University needs to reallocate money to finish buildings. That’s a bare minimum. Who wants to come to UNM where we have half of a biology building?” Vargas said that the road to secure funding is unclear. “We have actually, institutionally, not had the conversation about how we’re going to approach the next legislative session,” she said. “What else can you do if the voters don’t pass the funding?”
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Chris Quintana / Daily Lobo Castetter Hall, which has been under construction since summer, will not be completed by its April deadline. Bond D’s failure in the Nov. 2 election has left UNM officials to find alternative funding. Only the building’s second floor will be operational.
SUB barber cuts his losses by Shaun Griswold shaun24@unm.edu
Paul Panas has the hook up on quality, inexpensive haircuts. Yet, UNM wants the small business owner to dig deeper into his pockets to continue trimming up students. Panas signed a five-year lease agreement with the SUB that raised his monthly rent by $200, and by the fifth year, his rent will be doubled. “Most of the students say they come here because of the prices, the haircuts and that we’re a mom-and-pop shop,” he said. Walt Miller, Student Life vice president, said basic economics
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Amie Zimmer / Daily Lobo Paul Panas cuts student Levi Duran’s hair at Hook You Up Barbershop at the SUB on Monday. Panas said he has raised haircut prices to cope with UNM increasing rent. drove the University’s decision to raise rent on SUB tenants. “Heat and utilities have gone up, and they have to pay their fair share,” he said. “Everybody gets an increase.” As a result, Panas’ SUB basement business, Hook You Up Barbershop, has been forced to raise haircut prices from $8 to
$10. He said he explained the situation to customers accustomed to paying $8 for a haircut. “The real estate department came and all of a sudden, out of the blue, said, ‘We have to match real estate because there are a lot of people who want this spot, and we figure we have to go and raise your rent to keep
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up with inflation and the real estate market,’” Panas said. Thomas Neale, Real Estate associate director, did not return phone calls or e-mails this week. Miller said other companies, such as MVD Express, have expressed interest in renting SUB property, but none have been serious. Panas said he was unsure about how much his rent will be raised in upcoming years. “Hopefully in five years we can negotiate and keep that locked in,” he said. Miller said Panas’ rent hasn’t increased during his six years as a tenant. Meanwhile, Miller said, the New Mexico Educators Credit Union endured annual rent increases during that time. Panas and his wife have been cutting hair for 19 years. The couple moved their business to UNM in 2004 after a similar incident forced the couple out of their previous location near Walgreens on Girard Boulevard. He said customer familiarity, satisfaction and low prices makes his business successful. “What’s weird about barbering (is) you know all the guys by shapes and sizes,” he said. “So there is a guy who looks like me. He’s been here a long time. There is a guy named Hollywood, a little Spanish guy, who looks like Freddy Fender, and there is a guy named Tony who has been with us the whole 19 years.” Although his rent has increased, Panas said he will continue to provide an inexpensive service to the UNM community. “It’s all about the students and the staff,” he said. “The kids, the ones that graduate come back, too. They start as freshmen, and when they graduate they come back.”
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