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UC may receive building increase

The UC, dubbed “Under Construction” after the endless number of projects on its campuses, will be handed nearly $1.4 billion in facilities funding if voters support a bond measure recently approved by the Assembly.

Pending approval in the Senate, AB 16 will place $700 million on the November ballot. The remainder will be voted on in March 2004. 

UC Merced, the 10th UC, is slated to open fall 2004, but the bond money won’t be absorbed by the campus’ construction, said Paul Mitchell, chief consultant to the Assembly Committee on Higher Education.

The bill passed March 21 by a vote of 71-6, and Mitchell said he expects it will have an even easier ride in the senate.

The UC portion represents only a fraction of the bond’s $25.3 billion weight. Only $4.6 billion will reach the state’s higher education institutions, with the remainder allocated for K-12 facilities.

Restaurants close due to violations

Students could not satisfy their appetites during finals last quarter with sushi from Tsunami or Boba drinks from Relaxtation after Los Angeles County shut down both restaurants for violating sanitation codes.

After closing at the end of winter quarter, Relaxtation reopened Friday of finals week and Tsunami followed the next Tuesday.

As an independent entity, UCLA inspects its own food facilities, except when private entities make the food, as in the case of Tsunami and Relaxation.

The county closed the two restaurants mainly because they fell under its jurisdiction and not UCLA’s, said David Nirenberg, division officer of Outlying Food Services for the Associated Students of UCLA. He added that the two restaurants were clean.

Because ASUCLA hired the cashiers at the two facilities, it also had control over them, but L.A. County disagreed because the food preparers are from the county, Nirenberg said.

“It was a difference of opinion; we felt we were the operators,” he said. “But LA County did not feel that way.”

Over the two weeks that the facilities were closed, ASUCLA had to change the hot water source of both restaurants to separate them from other ASUCLA facilities, Nirenberg said, adding that all restaurants require 120-degree water temperature for cleanliness.

Though the restaurants will now be monitored by the county instead of by ASUCLA, Nirenberg said there is not much of a difference between the two because both agencies must inspect food under the California Uniform Retail Food Facilities Law.

Tsunami has been operating for several years and Relaxtation has been been in business since January.

“This was just something L.A. County felt it had to do. I don’t know the impetus behind its decision,” Nirenberg said.

HIV a catalyst for positive change

A UCLA study suggests that many HIV-positive individuals believe their disease and its life-threatening consequences serve as a milestone that positively changed many aspects of their lives.

The study found HIV-positive women in the Los Angeles area believe that in addition to negative feelings about being infected, becoming HIV-positive also served as the impetus to live a healthier life.

The study, based on interviews with a multiethnic sample of 189 women, found they have new priorities and a stronger focus on positive emotional and personal issues.

Slipper fairy afoot in hospital

Twelve-year-old Brittany Clifford, founder of the Fuzzy Feet Foundation, delivered hundreds of new slippers to pediatric patients at UCLA’s Mattel Children’s Hospital on Thursday.

The sixth grader, who lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., has delivered to several hospitals and organizations in the Phoenix area. This was her first donation in California.

“I’ve always loved wearing a cute pair of slippers around the house. So, I thought giving slippers to kids in hospitals would make them feel more at home, too,” Clifford said.

Reports from Daily Bruin staff and wire services.

CORRECTION:

The news brief “Restaurants close due to violations” (News, April 1) incorrectly stated that Relaxtation and Tsunami closed because of sanitation violations. They were cited for not displaying the proper permits. Correction posted 4/2/02

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