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Aloft continues on
Teaching Spaces at Evans Center. Students like Arun Basnet are commuting to other campuses to finish their AMT education. May 16. Emily Margaretten/The Guardsman
Aloft continued from page 1
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purchasing one would cost between $5.8 million and $9 million. Ultimately, the college decided that leasing or purchasing a new facility was not feasible.
Chalam Tubati, a resident of Bayview-Hunters Point, had a different take on Swerling’s list. He checked all the addresses and discovered that 17 out of the 20 proposed sites were located in Bayview-Hunters Point. The remaining three were nearby but technically not within the boundaries.
“Whenever there is an environmental burden, it always appears in Bayview,” Tubati said.
Zoning laws dictate where certain industrial activities can occur in San Francisco. Bayview-Hunters Point is one of these areas.
The Controversy of CEQA
To assess the environmental impact of bringing the AMT program to Evans Center, the college conducted a preliminary analysis, known as an Initial Study that followed the regulatory guidelines of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Findings from the study said there was no significant environmental impact that could not be mitigated.
The two issues that needed to be addressed related to the disturbance of nesting birds and to an increase in ambient noise from the running of engine equipment. Both could be mitigated through the implementation of protective measures, according to the report.
But as former biology instructor Jean Barish explained, the Mitigated Negative Declaration was not a comprehensive Environmental Impact Report, which is costly, time consuming and labor intensive.
“The Mitigated Negative Declaration is basically a selfserving document,” Barish said. “The developer says these are the reasons why there's no environmental impact, and therefore we think we're entitled to a Mitigated Negative Declaration.
“It doesn't involve nearly as much public input as a fullblown Environmental Impact Report,” Barish continued. “So, it falls short of what I think should have been done.”
Bradley Angel, the executive director of Greenaction, a health and environmental nonprofit organization, also was critical of what he saw as a flawed CEQA study and the college’s attempt to circumvent a proper environmental review.
“The Initial Study document stated that the project is not located in a sensitive environment, has no cumulative impact, and will not have a significant effect on the environment. And it's just mind boggling,” Angel said.
“Bayview-Hunters Point, according to the state of California, is one of the most at-risk communities in the entire state,” he continued. “It has pretty much all the polluting industries and toxic sites in San Francisco.”
This list includes a Superfund site and sewage treatment plant as well as diesel pollution from freight transport and freeways.
“So, for City College to claim that it's not a sensitive environment just makes a mockery of reality,” Angel added.
The college meanwhile maintained that it met all the necessary CEQA requirements and its analysis was scientifically sound. It framed the criticisms of the public as social, economic, and political considerations beyond the scope of its environmental study.
Tip Of the Iceberg
The board of trustees approved and adopted the CEQA report in December 2021. Nearly a year after its discontinuation at SFO, the college tasked a committee to evaluate the AMT program’s educational merits.
The committee’s report found that the program had a positive impact on students’ aspirations. It led to gainful employment in the aviation industry and fulfilled labor market needs. It also had the necessary staffing and financial resources to run. It just lacked a physical location.
The President of the Academic Senate, Simon Hanson, presented the committee’s findings to the board of trustees in December 2021 with the recommendation that the college revitalize the program. The committee also asked the college to look for alternative locations if Evans Center did not work out.
The board seemed poised to reinstate the AMT program. But then at their most recent meeting, they approved a plan to layoff 38 full-time faculty members and not replace 12 retirees. The AMT program lost its two full-time faculty members, effectively dissolving the entire department.
The college’s tactic of cutting faculty without looking down the pipeline was a concern of Hanson’s. “Instead of saying, what do we need to support the program, we’re saying who can I lay off? And then we’re going to come back and say, well how am I going to run a program now that I’ve taken away the resources?
“And I think that model is one we’re having more of. The AMT program is the tip of the iceberg,” Hanson said.
Hope Is Not A Plan
While 21 trailers with aircraft equipment collect dust and graffiti at City College, students have given up hope that the AMT program will reopen.
Arun Basnet was in his second semester of coursework when the program shut down. “I’ve been waiting two years seeing what their plan was and how they were going to move forward,” Basnet said.
Basnet now drives two hours roundtrip to Gavilan College, from SFO where he works as a flight dispatcher, to take the classes he needs for his airframe and powerplant certification. He still does not understand why the college never found a new facility for the AMT program.
“I'm an immigrant – and we have dreams of coming here and studying,” Basnet said. “This is a first world country. How is it possible that students are giving up on their dreams?”
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