CSULB
Summer Briefs
State employees receiving pay in August
By Tanya Dellaca
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
Another
week is coming to an end and California
is no closer to having a signed state budget
in place.
In a bit of good news for Cal State Long
Beach employees, this does not appear to
be an impediment to getting paid, as the
state controller’s office reported that
who gets paid will not change from July
to August.
“Everything is the same for August,” Stacey
Ragland of the state controller’s press
office said. “State employees will be getting
their salary, but the legislature will not
receive a salary and vendors doing business
after June 30 will not be paid for their
services.”
A list provided by the state controller’s
office details which payments can be made
including: disability insurance, most state
employees salaries, personal income tax
refunds, payments to state retirees, Social
Security payments, and bills for goods and
services provided prior to July 1.
Payments which cannot be made are for goods
and services provided after June 30 to the
following: state agencies, University of
California, trial courts and state highway
transportation projects, legislative staff,
state exempt appointees and certain elected
officials.
“We aren’t particularly worried about it,”
University Police Communications Supervisor
Greg Pascal said.
Others are maintaining a cautious outlook.
“We just don’t know for sure whether we
will be paid or not,” Long Beach Unified
School District college aide Gretchen Hutchins
said.
Tanganic Washington of the CSULB Payroll
and Benefit Services Office said payroll
has never been withheld before, but that
the department would not know if payroll
was not being made until the day before.
Avoid
Bookstore lines
By Maritza Diaz
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
The
first week of every semester brings with
it new students, new classes and the same
long lines at the University Bookstore.
For the past three years the Bookstore has
tried to make buying books easier by allowing
students to reserve their textbooks.
Students can go online and complete a form
requesting the books they need, and pre-pay
for them. The books are then collected,
packaged and are ready between August 29-31
at The Nugget, which is used as a pick up
station.
Students can also reserve books at the Bookstore.
“The easiest way to do this is online,”
said Roman Gulon, general manager of Forty-Niner
Shops. “You can come in and do it in person,
but that kind of defeats the purpose.”
The program can be a lot of work for Bookstore
employees, because they are the ones who
must find all books and course materials
requested by the students, said Gulon.
“It’s a service we offer to our customers
who want to take advantage,” said Gulon.
This program hasn’t decreased the lines
at the Bookstore. People prefer to wait
until the first day of class. Students who
reserve their books may also find that a
book they ordered may not be used, and as
a result, the reservation system sees quite
a few returns, said Gulon.
The primary users of the system are freshmen
who are told of book reservations when they
participate in the university’s SOAR program.
The bookstore does advertise the program
around campus, but finds the majority of
users are new students.
Campus
fraternity may lose home
By Heather Clarke
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
Phi
Kappa Tau at Cal State Long Beach must attend
a hearing Sept. 5 before the Planning Commission
of Long Beach to determine if the fraternity
may keep its house.
According to Robert Bernard, zoning administrator
for the City of Long Beach, Phi Kappa Tau
owns property at 3841 East Broadway, which
the fraternity purchased before property
zoning laws were changed in the late 1970s.
Bernard said the zoning code in that area
changed from C-3, which is a broadly defined
commercial zone, to R-1-N, which is a very
restrictive residential zone.
Bernard further explained fraternity houses
are not allowed in R-1-N zones, but because
Phi Kappa Tau purchased the property before
the zoning changed they had “nonconforming
rights” and were able to use the building
as their official fraternity house.
The legal dispute over the fraternity’s
property began when the Phi Kappa Tau chapter
at CSULB was suspended by its national headquarters
for failing to pay dues in January 1997.
In fall of 1999 Phi Kappa Tau’s suspension
ended.
Bernard said the Phi Kappa Tau chapter at
CSULB was suspended and classified as inactive
for a period longer than a year, which ends
the fraternity’s right to keep the location
as a fraternity house under nonconforming
use.
Bernard said that during the time of the
fraternity’s suspension they lost their
nonconforming rights.
Congress
debates Student Adjustment Act
By Luis Peña
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
The
Student Adjustment Act currently awaiting
congressional debate would reverse current
law that forbids residential tuition fees
for undocumented aliens who wish to pursue
higher education.
House of Representatives Bill No.1918, the
Student Adjustment Act would amend the Illegal
Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility
Act of 1996, which forbids states from allowing
in-state tuition rates for undocumented
aliens unless they offer the same in state
tuition to out of state students. The bill
would also allow these students to apply
for permanent residency, according to Julia
Mossimino, Legislative Counsel to Rep. Howard
Berman, D-Mission Hills, co-sponsor of the
bill.
“He saw a huge need for it. He doesn’t like
to see young people’s potential cutoff when
they are unable to continue their education,”
Mossimino said.
The Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility
Act of 1996 penalized states that gave in-state
tuition rates to undocumented aliens.
Those states would then have to apply the
in state tuition to any U.S. citizen regardless
of what state they are from, according to
Mossimino.
Cal State Long Beach has no formal position
on House Bill 1918.
The state of California enacted Assembly
Bill 540 to get around the 1996 Act and
it applies to the Cal State University system
and to the California Community Colleges,
according to Mossimino.
“It [Assembly Bill 540] applies to anybody
who attended high school in California for
three years and graduated from high school
in California,” said Gloria Kapp, Senior
Director of Admissions and Systems.
Java
Lanes denied entertainment permit
By Sé J. Reed
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
Long Beach nightspot, Java Lanes, was denied
a permit for live entertainment by the Long
Beach City Council July 30 in a decision
even council members admitted was overflowing
with discrepancy.
Based on the recommendation of an independent
hearing officer, the council voted six to
one, with one abstention, to deny the permit,
despite contradictions in the facts presented
by both sides, which even members of the
council recognized.
“Listening to each side is like listening
to parallel universes,” said 4th District
Councilman Dennis Carroll .
Indeed, the facts as presented by Java Lanes
General Manager, Nancy Durnin-Schmerl, do
not match up with those presented in the
report of the independent hearing officer,
independent council Carol Churchill, who
was unavailable for comment on this story.
The report was based on five days of testimony
by various witnesses, including Durnin-Schmerl,
residents of Java Lanes’ neighborhood and
Long Beach police officers.
Java Lanes, Long Beach’s oldest bowling
alley and home to the Lava Lounge, one of
the city’s largest entertainment venues,
first encountered problems in April 2001,
when filing a renewal application for their
“live entertainment with dancing by patrons”
permit required by the City of Long Beach.
The permit allows the venue to host live.
Java Lanes management was shocked to hear
new resident Stacy McMullen, who had just
moved into a home more than 100 feet away
from the Java Lanes building, request the
council deny the permit at the council meeting
in April.
McMullen said the noise from the live music
was disturbing the peace and complained
of “increased vehicle traffic.”
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