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By Megan Siana, Desiree Perez
NEARING COMPLETION-A photo of the cafeteria taken Nov. 20. Delays have caused the renovated cafeteria to miss it’s Nov. 24 opening date.
By Megan Siana, Desiree Perez
Riverside City College students and staff are again asked to wait for the Bradshaw cafeteria’s grand re-opening.
Though last issue Viewpoints was informed that all was going according to schedule and the cafeteria was still planned to open on Nov. 24, the date has again been pushed back.
This time Viewpoints was not given a definite opening date.
On Nov. 21 food services manager, Mary Black, sent out an e-mail to some faculty and staff members that said “We are sorry to announce that the cafeteria will not be opening as planned due to unforeseen delays.”
Since that date Viewpoints contacted various departments involved to uncover these “unforeseen delays.”
Construction consultant Tim Corcoran said “I’m not prepared to talk about that.” Mary Black also said she was unable to talk about the subject.
After many unreturned phone calls and messages, Viewpoints found some answers through Ralph Perez, RCC Facilities/Operations Director.
“I can’t give you a date,” Perez said. “Nobody wants to commit to that.”
Perez did however give his own estimate of the opening date: “I would say the first day of winter semester – but I’m sure everyone wants to be done before Christmas”.
Edward C. Bush, vice president of student services said, “late in the remodel project it was discovered that there was a problem with the exhaust fans/make up air handling over the stoves in the kitchen. The system would need to be replaced before the cafeteria can be reopened to the public.”
“We ran into a couple of snags,” Perez said. “We’re at the mercy of the health inspectors and the fire department.”
Ian Dalegetty, of the District Environmental services, said “we’ve already done the first (inspection) and we’re waiting for them (RCC) to call us for the second. Usually when they have a first inspection they’ll write up any problems. When those are all fixed we can hopefully do the final inspection.”
The second inspection date is to be announced at this point and no specific problems with the cafeteria were stated.
“Another department that needs to come by is the building department and the fire department,” Dalegetty said.
The finish line does seem to be in sight.
“Most of the construction is 90 percent complete,” Perez said.
At this point the cafeteria looks far from done from an outsider’s point of view.
“You’ll see that sometimes it will look like it’s not done, but those are just aesthetics,” Perez said “What you’re seeing is the final stuff.”
Within the week after the proposed opening date on Nov. 24 construction workers were still seen installing with copper wires on the side of the Bradshaw building.
“Those are line sets that go to the air conditioning,” Perez said.
At this point everyone involved is unsure of when the Cafeteria will open officially.
“We’re waiting for the health department to come by and say everything’s perfect,” Perez said. “We can’t do anything until Dale Adams (RCC Project Manager) says: ‘here are your certificates’.”
Viewpoints will be keeping track of the construction progress over the winter semester at http://www.viewpointsonline.org.
