Bring a college to Downey

Dear Editor:I just got done with my first day of school this semester at Cypress College. There are over 15,000 students currently enrolled with nearly 12,500 of us on waiting lists trying to get into classes. We are petitioning and begging and staying up at night doing homework that might not even matter if we don't get into the class. We need these classes. We want to go to school and to move on into the world. We really can't though if there is no space to do it in. The classes are too crowded. I'm paying so much money (I know, not as much as other people going to UCs or private schools, but I'll get there soon) to be able to get a good education. Everyone else wants to too. On the other side, I know plenty of professors that are only able to teach a few classes and not work full time because there simply is not enough room for them. I know people completely out of a job for the same reason. I also know of a giant plot of land that has been sitting desolate and ignored for too many years. Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center was created in 1880 and from the beginning was a community-based hospital. They had what they called a "poor farm" where families of the patients could work off the accruing medical bills. I know it would be a huge financial step to make this land a college but I believe it would 1.) bring back revenue to Downey by tuition and fees, housing if necessary, surrounding restaurants (funnily enough, starving students still eat) and 2.) create a younger sense of community. Valentin Flores and his associates are working hard to create a new art gallery and students would need a place to showcase their work. I'm not a city planner and I'm not an econ major so I don't actually know how hard any of this would be. But it's something I have been thinking about for a while. Let me know how this could be possible if at all. Allison Mansell Downey

********** Published: September 6, 2012 - Volume 11 - Issue 21