Increased food fees cause budget bane

Pierce College’s lack of options for lunch and recently-raised prices has put students in a tough predicament that will dissuade them from purchasing meals on campus.

College students not only deal with the pressures of managing their personal and educational lives, but also with the restrictions of having a small variety of food choices offered on campus and raising the costs has limited many students on what they are able to purchase within a tight budget.

Going into effect this semester, the food trucks on campus have had an increase on their vendor insurance coverage requested by the Los Angeles Community College District, raising their coverage from $1.5 to $5 million.

This has raised monthly insurance rates for food truck owners from about $300 to $500 per month, according to Minerva Castellon, owner of the Hot Coffee Catering truck.

In addition, vendors are now contracted for a full year instead of renewing their coverage every six months.

This causes food truck vendors to need to purchase produce in larger quantities to keep the costs from passing on to the customers.

Even so, all but one food truck owner raised prices on their meals to subsidize increased cost of operation, causing students to think twice about purchasing an item from these vendors.

Students already have enough expenses for their education that increased food prices aggravates. While it is important to prevent any legal liabilities, doing so at the expense of students is not the way to go.

As for what students can do to stay in their budget, those with their own means of transportation can go off campus looking for better variety while being able to purchase a meal at a lower cost.

Unfortunately, leaving campus to grab something to eat may have its own downfall, since it would require students to find a new parking spot in the crowded lots on and off campus and spend time remembering where they parked as well.

The other alternative would be to bring a packed lunch to Pierce. Although many students may avoid the idea of packing a lunch, it may be a helpful way to save on the costs of buying lunch and saving time driving off campus.

The only problem is students will likely not being able to refrigerate their food, restricting them on what they would be able to pack for lunch.

These are all temporary solutions to Pierce’s rising cost of food and many students are in jeopardy of losing the accessibility of the food trucks on campus.

Until Pierce is able to open a fully-established cafeteria, we may lose the small variety that is offered now.

Pros and cons: Proposed paper bag ban a benefit or burden?

Banning plastic bags is an awesome way to save the environment and is a wonderful opportunity to prevent pollution.

Liberal studies major

-Corrections-

Page 1: Rolf Schleicher’s title, Vice President of Administrative Services, is incorrect in both the story and the pull-quote. Page 4: Barbara Lombrano’s name is misspelled in the pull-quote. Page 5: The Performing Arts Center is delayed, not squashed as stated in the leading headline.

Tavian Quinn

tquinn.roundupnews@gmail.com

The bill passed in the state senate, setting up California to be the first state to implement a ban on single-use plastic bags once signed by Gov. Jerry Brown. It will reduce the amount of waste in landfills, reduce litter on the street, and protect the environment. The LA Bureau suggests that it won’t completely fix the problem but its a start.

There are many benefits to using plastic bags, such as convenience, durability and reusability.

As a result, you may be asking yourself “what do I carry my items out of the store in?”

Simple, the cost of a single paper bag is 10 cents, and stores such as Whole Foods, Ralph’s, and Trader Joe’s tell patrons to feel free to bring your own reusable bag sold at many supermarkets.

While the ban may be an inconvenience in this regard, it will reduce 14 billion plastic bags that are thrown away in the state every year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

This reduction could have a big impact as a single plastic bag can take 20 to 1000 years to degrade, and plastic bags remain toxic even after they are broken down, according to Environment California. In fact, some scientists question whether plastic will ever biodegrade.

Aside from humans, reducing plastic bag waste could reduce harm to birds and marine life. Scientists estimate every square mile of ocean has about 46000 pieces of plastic floating in and animals sometimes mistake plastic bags for food.

Thousands of animals die yearly after trying to eat the plastic bag waste, according to About Environment.

It will take some getting used to, but times are always changing and change is good when it’s helpful to our environment.

This bill holds society responsible for keeping our planet clean, even if it’s one bag at a time.

Lynn Rosado

lrosado.roundupnews@gmail.com

California residents are being pressured into believing that banning the use of free plastic bags is the best alternative to helping the environment and our economic needs.

This ban, also known as bill SB-270, was introduced on Feb. 14, 2013 by state senators Alex Padilla, Kevin de León, and Ricardo Lara.

During the gubernatorial debate on Sept. 4, 2014, Gov. Jerry Brown said that the ban takes into account our needs, the needs of the environment, and the economy.

What he didn’t mention is how the needs would be met.

This ban would have plastic bags replaced by paper bags in most stores.

Brown said the paper bags will benefit the environment, but omitted the true facts behind the statewide enforcement of the new bags.

According to a study by the U.K. Environment Agency, each paper bag would have to be used three times before its global warming impact is lower than that of plastic bags.

Brown’s argument is misleading because he omits the facts that show that stopping the distribution of plastic bags isn’t as economically friendly as we’ve been led to believe.

There is a lack of facts that would give residents of California a valid reason to accept the idea of no longer receiving something for free.

Emphasis on the word something, since we live in a world where everything has a price tag.

On top of the misleading reason behind the proposed ban, there will now be a statewide charge of 10 cents per paper bag

If plastic bags were free, why aren’t the paper ones?

California is known for its glitz and glamour, but behind all of that, is the harsh reality that it has the nation’s highest poverty rate, according to the Census Bureau. Spending a dime per paper bag can have a quick financial impact on the 23.8 percent of California residents who live below the poverty line.

If Brown had solid facts to support his ban, then maybe most of California’s residents would agree.