UC Merced: Connecting with our community

Let’s for a moment look at ways in which UC Merced can or should be connecting with our community.

After a stimulating “Wake up Merced” meeting with David Hosley, as the spokesman, we saw how the future of UC Merced could be the engine which drives us out of this economic recession.

Now with 5,000 students, it is a major economic force to be considered, however, any force needs to have direction, and we certainly don’t want that force to be directed out of town. Therefore it is absolutely necessary we connect with the university.

How do we do that? For starters there needs to be better communications between the community and the university. There also needs to be better and quicker transport between the community and the university.

Let’s take an example. Merced’s downtown business community is struggling and here is a potentially large market for UC Merced.

However the bus which takes the students from UC Merced to the downtown, can take almost 45 minutes. This means few students have the time to access the downtown restaurants for lunch.

Merced downtown has an association which taxes the merchants double for their business licenses. It amounts to about $60,000 a year.

What would be the problem with having the merchants pay for a “downtown direct” bus which could make the trip in 15 minutes?

Let’s look at something else. The city of Merced recently got a grant to improve its bikeways.

Right now they are terrible. They don’t go anywhere. Even the bike paths which exist are dangerous.

Why does the city allow parked vehicles in its bike paths? Why have bike paths which are wide at one place but almost disappear in others?

There is an excellent bike path heading south on Lake Road, but it narrows down as it hits Yosemite and then one has to take his or her life in their own hands to go south on McKee or G Street.

Even the newly constructed G Street Underpass will only have a narrow lane for bikes. The city needs to get serious about bike transportation.

Since there is open ag land south of Yosemite to Bear Creek, how about building a bike path now before the area gets developed.

These are some things that the city could do.

Now what could UC Merced do?

It has been in a constant building mode since its inception. However, most of the projects are too large for local participation. Projects could be made more “bite sized” so local contractors have a chance to bid.

The Merced Union High School district set the trend for asking bidders to state how much work would be done by local contractors. This is a first and we are not even sure it would be legal for the university.

However, there has got to be a way to help the 18 to 20 percent unemployed.

When students graduate from UC Merced, where do they get a job? Is anyone working with local business to help intergrate these graduates into the community, or do they just leave town and never return?

Our community needs their brain power to solve some real issues in the valley. We have some of the nations worst air quality and part of that comes from the dairy industry. How about researching how methane gas can be used as a source of clean power?

Remember while solar is fine, our valley is overcast most of the winter months. Methane could be the answer.

Finally, we need to insure safety and this is a joint effort. Merced County has just started “Crime Stoppers” to help get the criminal elements off the streets. With 5,000 students added to the community, the policing problems are increased.

Somehow there needs to be a joint effort between the university and the community to keep these students safe and out of trouble. Let’s team up to solve this problem.