Students vote yes on ‘E’

Measure E has stirred quite some controversy over the proposal to raise property taxes from $13 for every $100,000 of assessed value to $26. While there are arguments on both sides that are valid, it is important for students at Los Medanos College to understand that the potential revenue from Measure E will improve campus-learning structures for future students.

With Measure E, Contra Costa Community College District will be able to update learning facilities at all district campuses, including building at the site of the new Brentwood Center housed on Sand Creek Road.

Most students here will only be affected through parental home ownership, and may brush off the importance of the measure as something “that doesn’t apply” to them. Frankly, it doesn’t apply to many staff members on the Experience either. However, the outdated college core structure, the routinely sluggish Internet connection in the math building, and the lack of Wi-Fi access are daily campus struggles the LMC population can relate to. It touches everyone who travels to 2700 E Leland Road in search of an education that will prepare them for more sophisticated universities and employment.

Owning a house is expensive, and adding more tax money to be paid on top of the Bay Area cost of living may seem like a lot to ask of Contra Costa County residents in a recovering economy, but the investment in student facilities at the community college level will help bring to a new generation the learning environment of the future.

Measure E can be found on the bottom of your ballot when you go to the polls June 3. The Experience endorses the measure and encourages LMC students, faculty and staff to fulfill their civic duties to their communities and the colleges by exercising their right to vote, taking their number 2 pencils, and filling in the bubble for Yes on Measure E.

#‘Merica