Thursday, March 5, 20 15
State Revenue $188,000
E s t abl ished 19 16
w w w.mus t angne w s .net
Where does all that parking money go?
Cal Poly Revenue $60,000
Shelley Westerson @shelley_westers
Parking on campus: It’s a big hassle to some and big money for the university. But where does that money go, and what will the future hold in terms of available spots? Mustang News investigated. In the 2014-15 academic year, Cal Poly students will have contributed to the $5.4 million collected for parking fines and fees. Come Fall 2015, 484 parking spots will be lost. “I think it’s a really poor system because the passes are so expensive, but then you show up and it’s the luck of the draw or following someone in your car to get a spot,” business administration junior Savannah Baffert said. “Otherwise you have to park miles away from class and you have to choose: Do you want to be to the far left side of campus, or 10 minutes away from class in the other direction?” With the price of the parking passes, students like Baffert think there should be more parking available, but revenue does not necessarily mean profit. Here’s where all that money is going.
San Luis Obispo City Bus Contract $400,000
First, let’s break down the citation revenue. Last school year there was approximately $650,000 total revenue from parking tickets, according to the Assistant Director of Business Services at University Police Department (UPD) Marlene Cramer. Free buses A majority of the revenue, approximately $400,000 (62 percent), is paid to the San Luis Obispo City Bus contract, which allows students, faculty and staff to ride the buses for free. “A lot of people think that the city is providing transit as a gift to the university,” Associate Director of UPD Cindy Campbell said. “The city actually works with us to provide convenient service to Cal Poly. We contract with the city for the service, but we pay for it with parking citation revenue. It’s not free.” In the citation fine there is a $13 charge toward state-mandated fees, so $188,000 (29 percent) goes to the state and does not come to Cal Poly.
see PARKING, pg 3.
Based on 2013-14 academic year’s parking ticket revenue. GR APHIC BY JORDAN DUNN | MUSTANG NE WS
That’s the Key coming into its own Kelly Trom @kttrom
Five years ago, an a cappella group called That’s the Key began as a collection of singers who didn’t make the cut for the better-known Take it SLO. Now, it’s an officially chartered Cal Poly club — and they can hold their own. “People know Take it SLO and they are a great group, but because we are new, we have the pressure of meeting those expectations,” That’s the Key president and liberal arts and engineering senior Jason Lu said. “A lot of people see us as rivals, but we are trying not to compare ourselves to them anymore. We are trying to be our own group and have our own identity.”
Before this year, the group rehearsed in Poly Canyon Village and performed wherever they could, Lu said. Now that they are a chartered club, they can book rehearsal rooms on campus and invited to perform more often, such as singing the national anthem at the soccer game against UC Davis and performing at Farmers’ Market. Two years ago, That’s the Key attended the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA), the competition made famous by “Pitch Perfect.” They scored only five points lower than Take it SLO, which motivated them to step it up.
see KEY, pg 4.
SLO SAFE RIDE | COURTESY PHOTO NO DICE | The proposal, if passed, would have given all greek students rides downtown on Fridays and Saturdays.
Panhellenic Council rejects SLO Safe Ride contract Olivia Proffit @ojproffit
The Cal Poly Panhellenic Council chose not to approve a contract with SLO Safe Ride to provide free shuttle services to the downtown area for sorority and fraternity members on Friday and Saturday nights in a meeting on Tuesday. Interfraternity Council (IFC) voted in favor of the contract last week, but its implementation hinged on Panhellenic’s approval. Given Panhellenic’s decision, it will work with SLO Safe Ride to negotiate a
new contract so the service can still be available for fraternity members. “As Panhellenic, we, of course, support the decision of the chapters to not pass the proposed contract with SLO Safe Ride. We still encourage members to take advantage of these types of services when going downtown and to actively seek out ways to maintain a safe community,” Panhellenic president and business administration junior Kristen Henry said in an email.
see SAFE RIDE, pg 2.
FILE PHOTO | MUSTANG NE WS NOTEWORTHY | That’s the Key was invited to perform the national anthem at a soccer game this year.
News... 1-3 | Arts... 4-6 | Classifieds... 7 | Sports... 8
h t 5 h c r a M , y a d s r Thu 1a m –2p m 1 n w a L r e Dext
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Thursday, March 5, 2015
NEWS | 2
ASI Media Day designated to avoid campaign misconduct Jessica Nguyen @xjessnguyen
The 2015-16 Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) election candidate filing period has drawn to a close, with three ASI president and 58 Board of Directors (BOD) candidate packets submitted in total. Potential candidates are given a variety of resources to guide them through the election process, including the revised election code. Last year, a series of multiple campaign violations stemming from candidates appearing in media prior to the designated active campaign period led to multiple fines being pinned on candidates. After attracting national attention, ASI waived the fines and installed a new media policy. “There was a lot of worry about candidates being in the media (last year),” ASI Recruitment and Development Chair and agricultural business senior Gabriella
Bragoli said. “We’ve put the solution in place with Media Day in the hopes that we can create that line of communication.” Media Day will take place on April 3, a week before active campaigning begins. The event will allow candidates to discuss their platform, goals and stance on specific campus issues. “It is a new event that this year’s Recruitment and Development Committee has worked to develop, and we are using it to facilitate a dialogue between candidates and other media outlets (such as) Mustang News and KCPR,” Bragoli said. “It’s going to be open to everyone.” Allotted blocks of media time may be specified for presidential and BOD candidates. These details are not final. “What we are hoping for candidates is that they come prepared to really engage with media outlets and have a conversation,” Bragoli said. In addition to Media Day, a general statement and list of
definitions were added to the election code. These changes to the code were for clarification purposes, Bragoli said. “One of the things I’m really excited (for) is the definitions that are at the front, because as a candidate goes through this code, I think it’s important to have those resources,” Bragoli said. “Also, we have added a general statement that outlines (how) elections are used as a learning laboratory.” The general statement reiterates the educational purpose of student elections and notes that the ASI Election Code policy’s intent is to “prevent violations of reasonable campus rules.” To provide further transparency of the code, definitions of terms used in the ASI Election Code are listed for candidates to avoid misinterpretation of rules. One of the terms, “Active Campaigning,” is lengthily defined as the written public display or distribution of information pertaining to running candidates. According to Article IX Section C of the ASI Election Code, candidates “must avoid Media Communications to the extent possible until Media Day.” “Students will not be punished for the media’s publishings but must avoid media communications until Media Day,” Board of Directors Vice Chair and software engineering junior Myra Lukens said. “This is a very common practice across campus elections.” Though candidates are encour-
SAFERIDE continued from pg 1. The service would have cost $6,600 total, with sororities and fraternities splitting the cost equally, Henry said. The shuttles would run from 11 p.m. to
JOSEPH PACK | MUSTANG NE WS CLEAR RULES | ASI’s revised media policy, including a Media Day, comes after confusion in last year’s election.
aged to “reasonably try to avoid Media Communications,” as stated in the ASI Election Code, they will not be penalized if the media independently publishes information about the candidates before active campaigning begins. In addition, a disciplinary subcommittee was created to take
care of code violations that occur during active campaigning. “We have a disciplinary subcommittee that is set up in the event that violation of the code is brought to the attention of Recruitment and Development,” Bragoli said. “I would really stress to candidates to have that document in your decision-
2 a.m. from Hathway Avenue to the downtown San Luis Obispo area around Luna Red, according to IFC president Alex Horncliff. The national chapters of each sorority ultimately decide whether or not to approve the contract. They declined to do
so because of liability concerns, Henry said. IFC will now work with SLO Safe Ride to negotiate a new price for the shuttle service. If it can’t decide on cost, the service will be removed altogether, Horncliff said.
making processes. Have the code in mind.” Bragoli encourages candidates to use the Recruitment and Development Committee as a resource throughout election. “We would really love for candidates to feel they have answers that are accessible to them,” Bragoli said.
Thursday, March 5, 2015
NEWS | 3
JOSEPH PACK | MUSTANG NE WS BUS MONEY
| Most of the money (62 percent) collected from parking citations goes toward Cal Poly’s contract with the San Luis Obispo bus system. All Cal Poly students, staff members and faculty can ride the bus for free.
structure is being paid off by a majority of the permit revenue, which is about $1.8 million each After that, the school is left year. The next largest portion is with approximately $60,000 (9 made up of salaries and benefits percent) in citation revenue. and is nearly $1 million. EvMost of this is used for erything else goes toward the alternative modes of operating expenses, facilities services transportation at Cal Poly such as the esand maintenance. cort van, Regional The Grand AvTransit Authority e nu e p ar k (RTA), rideshare ing lot (R2 and I also think that we are all going and vanpool. G1) that will to have to plan ahead and expect “We are spendbe closed in the fall offers ing more than longer walks from parking lots we are making in 484 general use to the campus core than we are citations. So what and 825 residenused to. we aren’t paying, or tial spaces. Only about 200 resicovering in what we dential permits are bring in in citation rev- UPD ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR being sold. According enue, we are subsidizing CINDY CAMPBELL to Campbell, the plan is with fees revenue, parking to build the new residential permits,” Campbell said. halls here along with a parkAnd it’s true, they are spending more than they are making. Poly Canyon Village park- ing structure that will provide Citation revenue is only a small ing structure 483 spaces for general use only fraction of the money coming The bond debt, or loans, for the (commuter students), not onin from parking. The big-ticket Poly Canyon Village parking campus residents.
PARKING continued from pg 1.
item is parking permits, which will bring in about $4.6 million this year alone.
Less parking next year Concerns have been voiced over availability of parking over the next several years while the project is being completed. Campbell says administration expects students to start using the less popular lots like H1 and H14. “I think sometimes the perception people have is that it takes longer to walk than it actually does. I also think that we are all going to have to plan ahead and expect longer walks from parking lots to the campus core than we are used to,” Campbell said.
Eventually, the money is going to benefit commuter students by giving them more parking on Grand Avenue and taking spots away from residents that don’t necessarily need to park so close to campus. “Some students that live in residence halls use their cars, but they use them infrequently,” she said. “It’s really considered by most campuses across the nation as ‘storage parking.’ So we said, should storage parking be taking up prime real estate? And the answer really is no, you need to be able to provide
parking for residences, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be immediately adjacent.” In other words: She said that come Fall 2015, parking will become hectic at Cal Poly with the loss of those 484 spots, but there will still be room for everyone to park. It just won’t be in the most ideal parking lots. If you would like to voice your opinions on the upcoming changes in parking, there is an open forum being held Thursday, March 5, in Julian A. McPhee University Union (building 65), room 220 at 12 p.m.
Thursday, March 5, 2015
ARTS | 4
FILE PHOTO | MUSTANG NE WS TONER | That’s the Key meets twice per week to rehearse its diverse repertoire of originally composed a cappella covers of popular music. They performed Sia’s “Chandelier” at this year’s ICAA competition.
KEY continued from pg 1. “Getting that score was really encouraging,” Lu said. “We then started to think that we should try our very hardest to be the group to audition for now.” Child development junior Skyler Pestle joined That’s the Key last fall. “I chose to audition for That’s the Key because they are kind of the underdogs,” Pestle said. “They are new and they are fresh and have different ideas.” Pestle was originally planning on auditioning for both Cal Poly a cappella groups, but she
felt so comfortable in That’s the Key that she decided to skip Take it SLO’s audition. Pestle may be new, but she’s already making waves. Pestle scored the solo part in That’s the Key’s rendition of “Chandelier” by Sia, a song the group sang at this year’s ICCA competition at UC San Diego on Jan. 31. “I wasn’t expecting it,” Pestle said. “I think they are just excited to have a new voice, too.” That’s the Key went to ICCA largely to get feedback from professionals, biomedical engineering sophomore and tenor Kyle Erickson said. The judges at the competition weren’t overly critical, but they
made sure the groups knew their opinions, Erickson said. “They are sure to offer us as much feedback as they can regarding individual soloists, the group dynamic as a whole, choreography,” he said. “It was great to get feedback from professionals like that.” Erickson joined the group his sophomore year without much of a musical background. He’d focused on sports and school during his high school years and didn’t do anything remotely musical until college. But he ended up loving a cappella after auditioning for the group at the recommendation of his high school friend and his dad.
“I think it is a phenomenal outlet, it is something to look forward to at the end of the week,” Erickson said. “If you have had a tough time in class or at work, this is a place where you can come and hang out with 15 other people that love singing as much as you do.” The group is made up of singers from all different majors, personalities, grades and musical backgrounds, but they come together twice a week for twohour rehearsals. Kinesiology junior and alto Zoe Lemieux has been in the group since her freshman year. She knows what it takes to make a song come together:
the arranger’s tedious process of translating a radio version song to a cappella, countless hours of learning the song’s different parts, perfecting it and then adding choreography to the number. “It is definitely a lot more work then media has made it out to be,” Lemieux said. “You could be an amazing singer and you might not be able to be in an a cappella group. If you can’t hold a pitch on your own when there are like seven other parts around you, it’s not gong to work.” Lemieux thinks That’s the Key is lucky to have a community that wants to see the hard work
the group has put in. “The community really wants us to be a part of all of their things,’ Lemieux said. “Last week at Farmers’ Market there was a person that was moved to tears by our rendition of ‘Fix You’ by Coldplay. It is cool to be able to brighten their day a little bit.” Now, the group is working on its annual spring show. They will also perform a rendition of Mark Ronson’s and Bruno Mar’s “Uptown Funk” with Take it SLO for Open House on April 17. This event is part of That’s the Key’s goal to break down the barrier that exists between the two groups.
Thursday, March 5, 2015
ARTS | 6 MUSTANG NEWS
Kreuzberg, CA: More than their mason jars
Graphic Arts Building Building 26, Suite 226 California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Annie Vainshtein @annievain
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For most of us, coffee is either part of our daily routines or an inevitable outcome. As much as we try to resist it, we assume we’ll end up drinking coffee — even if we don’t want to. As we mature and start incorporating it into our lives, whether through indirect processes (like reading VICE every day) or direct (skipping class to ensure the FedEx guy gets a signature for your imported half-pound of Cafe Kreyol Zombie Desert 100 percent Organic Haitian Bleu), it slowly becomes apparent that coffee has very little to do with how it tastes. Coffee is a social lubricant, a culture. Coffee has long transcended its organic form. Bearded men with undercuts don’t call themselves coffee connoisseurs because they care about the bean count; it is unlikely they will notice if the drip served to them via mason jar has been “properly aerated.” They will, however, notice the mason jar. They’re in it for the mason jar. Coffee is the substance you ingest so you can finally appreciate Virginia Woolf. Coffee spurts the necessary words to convey just how much you “love” Majical Cloudz. If you’ve lived in San Luis Obispo and have regular access to SoundCloud, you’ve probably stepped into Kreuzberg at least once. Your experience there will mostly depend on two things: what you think of Portland and your stance on beanies. It is the amalgamation of aesthetics, the collision of outcasts from public high schools in seven of California’s counties and two of Colorados, the place to see and be seen, the place to drink amazing coffee and look swaggy doing it. People at Kreuzberg aren’t fanatics. They like coffee just
JOSEPH PACK | MUSTANG NE WS ATMOSPHERE | Kreuzberg’s employees, decor and demeanor may make it a hipster’s paradise, but for a caffeine fanatic, it’s even more.
as much as the rest of us. The difference is in the expression. When you go to Kreuzberg, you’ve chosen Iron & Wine over your dad’s cover band. You’ve abandoned your beloved A’s cap for a felt panama hat. It’s not that you’re leaving parts of you behind, you’ve just swapped out chain cafes for baristas that’ll actually know your name — and something about coffee. And so, wide-eyed, you step into the store, noting it’s 10 a.m. and Explosions in the Sky is playing. As much as you love post-rock, you really weren’t trying to go to a coffee shop to be depressed, so you order an espresso shot to cheer yourself up. Plus, you deserve it. You scan the menu and notice the Dostoevsky sandwich.
It looks good, but what about the Ayn Rand salad? This is too structural of a question. You start having stress sweats thinking about the former USSR. Alas, you decide on the John Steinbeck — sometimes it’s okay to play it safe. Coffee time is booming, but there’s nowhere to sit besides what you’ve, in the last 20 seconds, assigned the name “Vape Lounge.” It’s dark in there. The couches are unforgivably leather; everyone in there has, at one point in their lives, brewed their own Kombucha. You finally find a free seat, but you’re going to have to share it with Yellow Beanie man, who doesn’t look up when you ask him if the seat’s available. The two of you sit in silence, both readjusting your
Warby Parker glasses, hoping the other doesn’t realize they’re not prescription. He got pourover, and he’s judging your puerile need for espresso. He’s grown out of that stage. The smooth, carefully crafted espresso shot has really done you well. In this newfound conviction, you’ve decided to sneakily VSCOcam the floral wall, but in the abrupt maneuver knock over your espresso shot. All two ounces fall to the floor, but the miniature cup doesn’t break. It’s made of bamboo. What are you supposed to do now? Tunnel vision directs you toward the beacon of light — you must buy another coffee. You weave through the circus of blue-eyed craftsmen and those who hula hoop — barely
escaping the union of a Tinder match. Their first date was almost ruined, by you. You go up to the front, frantic. Your panama is making your hair look weird. You take out your wallet to pay and realize you forgot to throw out your Peet’s gift card. You may as well delete your Instagram. The man with a bun asks what you want. He then tells you to get a pour-over. You’re asked if you like fruity or chocolate, and you can’t decide because you love chocolate-covered strawberries and suddenly everything seems scary and nothing makes sense, until you realize: It all means nothing. And you utter the two words baristas everywhere hate more than whipped cream. “Surprise me.”
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SPORTS | 8
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Baseball bats cold in loss to Santa Clara Harry Chang @harrychangmn
The Cal Poly baseball team saw improved play from at least one side of the pitching-defensehitting trifecta, but again found itself unable to put all three together, falling 3-0 Tuesday night at Baggett Stadium to Santa Clara. “We didn’t do a lot of things very well, and that seems to be the theme,” head coach Larry Lee said. “We’re not putting together enough components of the game to be successful, and we need to continue to work hard and hopefully some of the players will earn their playing time, because that’s all you ask for.” Things didn’t start well for the Mustangs (2-7) and freshman starter Andrew Bernstein, who was pulled in the second after just 1 2/3 innings of work. Bernstein allowed an unearned run on one hit and three walks, while also hitting two batsmen and giving up a wild pitch to the Broncos (7-5) in the shaky start, falling to 2-1 on the season. “It’s tough,” Bernstein said of his performance. “You do feel like you let your team down, and obviously I wasn’t on today. It’s a humbling experience to be taken out in the second inning; I just got to get after it this next week and change a few things about today’s game.” Despite the rocky start, the Mustangs finished the night giving up a total of six hits as four pitchers combined to throw 7 1/3 innings of solid baseball following Bernstein’s rough outing. The Mustangs bullpen also struck out four and walked one. “For the most part, our pitching has gotten better,” Lee said of the bullpen work in Tuesday’s game. “It’s disappointing how we started today, but things
have gotten a little better.” Senior pitcher Danny Zandona, who improved his ERA to 1.80 in relief of Bernstein, played stopper to a Santa Clara offense that loaded the bases with two outs in the first. They then got three more on base in the second before he was pulled. Zandona allowed one unearned run in his 2 1/3 innings of work. Catcher Brett Barbier was unable to handle a pitch in the dirt, which allowed Santa Clara center fielder T.C. Florentine to score from third. Sophomore Nick Suniga, senior Taylor Chris and freshman Michael Gomez closed out the game after Zandona’s 2 1/3 innings of work, with Suniga and Chris pitching a combined three hitless innings. “You just gotta have confidence in your team, and my guys definitely picked me up today,” Bernstein said. “While obviously you always want to be that guy to get it done, I have full faith that if I can’t do the job, someone else can.” On the offensive side, there wasn’t much going for the Mustangs all night, who had trouble from the very first pitch in figuring out the deceptive lefthanded delivery of Santa Clara freshman Kevin George. “I feel like a lot of us were getting ourselves out and swinging at bad pitches, just not making him throw strikes,” junior designated hitter Mark Mathias said. The Mustangs got more than three batters to the plate just twice against George and four times in the whole game. A bright spot in the offense came in the third when freshman right fielder Ben Polshuk saw the first hit of his college career — a two-out — slice through the 3-5 hole.
The excitement was short-lived, however, as Polshuk got caught leaning toward second the next at-bat and ended up victim to an inning-ending rundown. The Mustangs didn’t get another hit following Polshuk’s third-inning single until the ninth, when they got a single thanks to designated hitter Mathias, who was playing in just his second game back from offseason surgery. Mathias’ single was followed by a single from senior center fielder Jordan Ellis. With the tying runner at the plate twice in the inning, however, the Mustangs were unable to get a run on the board and were again sent back to the dugout scratching their heads. The Mustangs offense, still without junior catcher Brian Mundell, who has been out with an ailing hamstring, is waiting for his bat to rejuvenate the lineup in the coming weeks. “It’s tough,” Lee said. “We’re very limited in the moves we can make. We’re very thin with our roster and we, for the most part, have to roll out a similar lineup each and every game. So not an ideal situation, but that’s where we’re at right now.” Until then, maybe the biggest takeaway of the night for a Mustangs team struggling to repeat a historic 2014 playoff run came from the starter who struggled to get past just one inning of work. “This game is about failures and successes,” Bernstein said. “But I think that the biggest thing is just bouncing back and knowing that if you’ve done it before, you can do it again.” The Mustangs play a threegame nonconference series against former Big West Conference rival Pacific (0-11) Friday through Sunday in Stockton.
CHRISTA LAM | MUSTANG NE WS QUIET NIGHT | The Cal Poly baseball team was held to just three hits in Tuesday’s loss to Santa Clara.