City Times — Aug. 25, 2009

Q Butting Heads The pros and cons of the campus smoking ban

VOICE / PAGE 3

CityTimes www.sdcitytimes.com

Covering the San Diego City College community since 1945

New policy smothers smoking

Volume 64, Number 1

August 25, 2009

Women’s soccer kicks off semester

By Donna P. Crilly

City Times

Ashtrays are gone; butts are out.

Smoking at San Diego City College has officially been banned for the 2009-10 academic school year.

Banners promoting a smokefree campus with “for the health of it” blazed in bold type are posted throughout the school.

“The whole goal is to promote a healthy school,” Denise Whisenhunt, dean of student affairs, said.

“As a campus community, we’re embracing it.”

Before the transition to a nonsmoking school, students were allowed to light-up anywhere on campus except for “covered areas.”

Summer 2009 eased students into the ban by allowing designated smoking areas, including parking lots. Now, only parking lots and city sidewalks along the outskirts of the college allow smoking.

The idea for the ban was brought to the attention of the Associated Student Government during the 2006-2007 school year. A survey conducted during the spring 2007 ASG election posed the question of eliminating smoking on campus.

Barely more than 100 students voted on the issue, yielding a slight skew toward non-smoking.

However, ASG concluded that the small amount of people who voted didn’t represent the opinion of the 17,000-student population, according to San Diego City College President Terrence Burgess.

Also, the vote didn’t include the staff and employee opinion, who are as much a part of the decision as students are, Burgess notes.

Last spring, ASG raised the issue again a n d

decided on designated smoking areas for the summer, and a smoke-free campus for the 2009-2010 school year.

See POLICY, page 2

Carlos Maia City Times The San Diego City College Athletics Department kicked off the new academic year with women’s soccer tryouts on Aug. 17-19 at the college’s soccer field, located near the new Harry West Gymnasium. Above, Rebekah Hash, All-Conference goalkeeper of the year, blocks a goal attempt by teammates Laura Garcia and Raquel Torres during tryouts final cuts on Aug. 19. Hash, Garcia and Torres are three of the five returning team members. Assistant Coach Jorge Palacios conducted tryouts, which included running laps and scrimmages.

The women’s soccer coaching staff prepared for this semester by doing heavy recruiting at local high schools in order to form a more robust team, according to Palacios. Of the 40 students that initially tried out, 19 made the team. The team will be led by Head Coach Andi Milburn with the help of assistant coaches, Palacios and Anya Bohun-Chudyniv.

The higher cost of higher education

By Roda Marie Catapang City Times

With the state’s deepening budget crisis and its affect on residents, California is seeing increases across the board, including an increase in tuition from $20 per unit to $26 at community colleges.

San Diego City College students registering for the fall semester were warned about the possible increase. Students who had already paid for classes in full at the $20 per unit rate received notification about the requirement to retroactively pay the increase in tuition by the given due date or be dropped from their registered classes.

The $6 tuition increase and need to pay retroactively has City Col-

lege students scrambling to hold on to the classes they were able to enroll in.

“That might not sound like a lot of money to a lot of people, but that is a lot of money to me,” said Associated Student Government President David Campbell, in an interview with the Union-Tribune in June.

Students receiving the Board of Governors Waiver (BOGW) will not have to address the $6 increase, as it is covered by the BOGW. At a time when the community college level is experiencing a spiked growth in enrollment, partly due to the current economic slump and rising unemployment rate in the state, they are also forced to reduce the number of classes offered.

Although an increase in enrollment generally creates more money for the school, budget cuts have resulted in class cuts, leaving the district with limited resources to accommodate the increasing enrollment.

There is pressure on the school district to find ways to address the need of its community without sacrificing the quality of the education provided.

“We’re cutting classes not because … we can’t meet student need but because we will not be supported for teaching those classes,” said Constance M. Carroll, Ph.D., chancellor of the SDCCD, during a radio interview with KPBS General Manager Doug Myrland on “These Days.”

According to Carroll, California

has created a crisis for itself with the rising unemployment and its correlation to the rising enrollments in community colleges. She went on to say that the state’s cut will result in California community colleges turning away an estimated 250,000 students in the year to come, not including those that will be turned away at the university level.

Carroll said that California needs to solve its budget crisis and revenue problem or all California institutions will be threatened.

“It’s not the one-time infusion, it’s the ongoing infusion, it’s the difference between a bonus and a salary,” Carroll told KPBS. “One doesn’t base one’s mortgage and lifestyle on bonuses but on the

See COST, page 2

L Building reopening offers one-stop academic center

By Vanessa Gomez City Times

After 17 months of demolition, structural upgrades, interior renovation and fenced-off areas, the L building on campus reopens to feature the Academic Success Center.

The Academic Success Center will combine numerous student sources, such as tutorial and advisement services, as well as general purpose classrooms.

Vice President Peter White was on hand to discuss some details of the building that was once the school library in the 1970s.

“Students will benefit,” White commented. “Every service from the new building will increase the square footage of the area each program had before.”

White felt that having all the student sources in one building would lead City students and City staff to greater success.

“Staff members will benefit too,” White said. “Now they all work in close proximity to one another.

They won’t be spread all over campus anymore. Now they can

Index

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just refer students down the hall, creating a synergy. The programs will feed each other.”

The renovation, led by general contractor, HAR Construction, carried a price tag of over $7 million dollars for 28,700 square feet.

White responded positively to the costs of the project.

“How is it possible that we’re remodeling the L building during the one of the worst budget crisis we’ve seen in years?” White asked.

“It’s simple, there are two different budgets. The state budget, which is very low right now, pays for classes, staff, teachers. But there is a second budget, that the voters approved, which by law, can only be used for construction. Therefore, the new building won’t necessarily be fully staffed.”

White also commented on the possibility of the L building opening without a full staff.

“You don’t really want to build a building that’s fully staffed,” White explained. “It’s better to be playing catch up, so you overbuild for

See CENTER, page 2

Carlos Maia City Times June Cressy, classified sensate president, and David Walsh, ESL supplemental instructor, enjoy a pot luck event for the faculty and staff that will be working in the new Academic Success Center. The brand new and improved center will embark on its maiden voyage on Monday, Aug. 24, and will house the offices for all student services programs, including TRIO,Umoja and MESA.

Inside

Q STREET SCENE

Celebrates their 25 anniversary ARTS / PAGE 4

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City Times

Take NOTE | News

TakeNote Compiled by Michele Suthers Get your event in the paper. E-mail us at citytimes@gmail.com or call (619) 388-3880

n Aug. 26 Blood Drive 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Gorton Quad

n Sept. 4 Deadline to drop classes with no “W” recorded.

n Aug. 28 Women’s Soccer at San Bernardino Valley.

4 p.m.

n Sept. 7 Labor Day Holiday

n Aug. 29 Women’s Volleyball at Cuesta Tournament.

All Day.

n Sept. 8 Last day to drop and be eligible for a refund of enrollment fees and/or non resident tuition.

n Aug. 31 Men’s Soccer vs. College of the Desert.

2:30 p.m. n Sept. 4 Last day to receive, process and pay for add codes.

Cost

Continued from page 1

ongoing salary.”

“We are caught between forces that want to restrict cuts and restrict revenue at the same time, and that combination is deadly,” Carroll said.

Students are also caught between two evils. Many are fighting to learn a new trade, a new skill or to enter into a new career in order to secure themselves a future in the current unpredictable economic state. But many of those

Policy

Continued from page 1

Another vote is expected to take place in April 2010, which will survey plans in continuing a smokefree campus, assigning designated smoking areas, or reverting back to no smoking under covered areas, according to Burgess.

“In a sense, this is a trial year,” Burgess said. “I think this is the kind of issue that ought to reflect the voices of the students and the staff, and what they want to do.”

However, Burgess is indifferent toward the issue. “Personally, I don’t have passion about it either way,” Burgess said.

Since the smoking ban is a violation of the student code of conduct and not against the law, there will be no heavy-handed enforcement.

“Our police department has a stance where we remind students that it’s a smoke-free campus and that it’s a violation of the student code of conduct policy 3100,” Sgt. Jordan Mirakian of the San Diego Community College District police said.

Center

Continued from page 1

growth, and over (the next) 20 to 30 years we’re going to fill those buildings with the growing staff and budget.”

According to the San Diego Business Journal, the project included “replacements of the elevators, exterior doors and windows, and interior stairs.” New ceilings, interior partitions and architectural finishes are just some of the brand new additions to the building. The indoor also features “subway tiling”

Sept. 12 Auditions for fall production of Bye Bye Birdie.

High Noon at the Saville Theatre Sept. 25 Last day to file a petition for pass/no pass grade option.

same students are having to make significant sacrifices to afford the classes they’ll need to secure that future.

However, there are students that feel it could have been worse.

“It’s really not that bad, considering the cost of community colleges on the east coast,” said Donovan Terblanche, student and former east coast resident.

The City University of New York’s Web site indicated that tuition cost at their community colleges were $135 per credit for part-time students, and $1575 per semester for full-time students.

“Low-key enforcement” is what Burgess called it.

“We cannot arrest someone for smoking, student or non-student,” Mirakian said.

No tickets or citations will be handed out either, according to Mirakian. The only course of action for a non-complying smoke violator will be a San Diego Community College District policy write-up, which will be brought to the attention of Dean Whisenhunt. Whisenhunt will handle each case individually and cannot give a general disciplinary action description for potential violators.

No write-ups have been recorded since summer and it isn’t expected to be an issue during the school year, according to Mirakian.

“We rarely have that come up,” Mirakian said referring to students who ignore the smoking ban. “Most people are compliant,” he said.

Student opinion on the policy varies.

“I love my lungs. [The smoking ban is] a good thing,” Rogelio Rodriguez, 25, said.

“It doesn’t really matter. I don’t care,” William Caulder, 21, said.

greeting students with inspirational messages as they travel the halls.

Some “green” features of the new L building feature waterless urinals and electric hand-dryers, reducing energy consumption.

Other restroom fixtures were made with material “derived from 100 percent post-consumer/post industrial recycled glass.” “All exterior aluminum windows” with “thermalsetting powder coat finish” were installed to help control the building’s overall temperature.

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August 25, 2009

Tuition continues to rise at SDSU Students burdened with the continuous increase in tuition at the university level

By Rachael Phillips Contributor

The fall 2009 schedule is back online for San Diego State University students to register for classes after it was taken down in May for adjustments, according to Gina Jacobs, manager of media relations for SDSU. In May, the California State University Board of Trustees approved a 10 percent fee increase for undergraduate, credential and graduate students, causing SDSU to temporarily take down the class schedule as they reevaluated which classes they were going to continue offering.

On July 21 the board approved a 20 percent fee increase for students, mandating furloughs for management and non-represented employees and enrollment cuts for all 23 campuses over the next two years, according to the CSU Web site.

SDSU junior Daniel Brown said, “If fees were not raised, then quality and accessibility would have to be compromised.” He adds, “I am certainly not happy about, nor do I believe that anybody else is happy about, the huge increase but it was a necessary evil.”

Annual fees for full-time undergraduate students will increase by $672, with each semester now costing $2,451. The mandatory SDSU campus fee will remain at $438 for all students. Those students whose

families make less than $75,000 and receive financial aid will not see a fee increase, Jacobs said.

“Nationwide, we’re still significantly lower compared to other public institutions,” she noted.

Jacobs adds that students will need to be more flexible with their schedules. SDSU has reduced the number of sections for many courses, as well as the time they will be offered.

When students log on to WebPortals to register for classes, they will see a message from SDSU that states, “Please note that the fall 2009 class schedule is provisional and subject to change based on the final 2009/2010 CSU and SDSU budget and enrollment demands.”

As students continue to register for classes, they are experiencing first hand the overwhelming effect the budget cuts have caused, making it difficult for some.

“It is so much harder to register because there are a lot of classes that have been cut,” said Jessica Bouchey, a junior at SDSU, adding that “there are certain classes that are now only offered during one semester out of the year.”

Fall enrollment has also been limited due to the lack of funds. Out of the 55,000 applications SDSU received for the fall, there is only enough space to accept 7,000. This is approximately 600 less than the previous year’s available space, according to Jacobs.

Urbanalities By Michele Suthers

“We’ve closed spring admission,” said Jacobs. “We haven’t had an open spring admission since 2007.”

Students are not the only ones taking a hit. Employees are essentially taking a 10 percent pay cut with furloughs. By implementing the furlough, the state would mandate that employees take two unpaid days off each month, essentially to save jobs and money, Jacobs said.

Beginning Aug 1, it is required that all management and non-represented employees, including the chancellor, presidents and executives, to furlough the two days per month. The CSU estimates they would save $275 million in cost reductions if all 47,000 CSU employees furloughed twice a month, according to the CSU Web site.

All 23 CSU campuses are facing cost saving measures in order to reduce their budgets by $183 million.

The threat that the state might cut Cal Grants forced SDSU to launch a fundraising program for scholarships in order to help lower income students pay for rising costs, said Jacobs. She noted that about 4,500 students applied for a scholarship last year but there was only enough money for approximately half those students. Some scholarships don’t get applied to, Jacobs added.

CityVoice

August 25, 2009

City Times

3

Changes and challenges Here comes ‘The Panic’ for City College students As the San Diego Community College District enters into the new school year, many are seeing firsthand the significant effects the state budget has had on higher education.

Programs are impacted across the board with increasing student enrollment, despite the rising cost of tuition and fees.

SDCC students are finding they’re laidback, easygoing attitude tested by the many inconveniences placed on them by the state government and their continued inability to decide on the proper course of action to take with the state budget.

The counseling office is overflowing with irate students waiting as long as 3-4 hours to be seen. The financial aid office is surrounded by apathetic faces as students bear long lines dragging around the building. The bookstore is stocked with outrageously priced textbooks and supplies. And in the end, some students will find themselves shut-out of already filled classes. But still they push on, knowing what needs to be done to get where they want to be.

This is the San Diego spirit. This city was home to pioneers. Discovered by adventurers. Developed by visionaries with the tenacity and drive to see those visions come to life.

And San Diegans have always possessed this spirit. And it shows now, as they continue to struggle through these tough economic times that has forced them to deal with, not only the country’s budget crisis, but their own state and city’s economic downfalls.

Although the times are hard, our district officials have worked hard to continue to provide quality education and room for the increasing number of students enrolling.

Students are starting to resemble circus jugglers, balancing full-time

classes, jobs, families, social life and the occasional need to veg-out during the week.

It’s going to be a rough road ahead, but City College students will not be

Editorial

City Times Editorial Board deterred from the challenges they will surely face. After all, they are San Diegans.

Some of the changes students will encounter this school year includes the new L Building, an environmentally friendly structure that now houses the student services programs on campus.

Smoking has now been nipped in the butt with the enforcement of the smoking ban on campus, restricting smokers to parking lots and the outskirts of the campus.

Of course there is the change in tuition, with the $6 increase per unit.

BOGW students need not worry. The tuition increase is covered by the waiver.

All others will have to figure out where to get the additional $96 per full-time semester.

City Times has seen its share of changes this semester as well. For this fall, the newspaper has two editors-inchief. Vanessa Gomez and Roda Marie Catapang have taken the reins of the student-run newspaper and are looking to change more than just the size of the paper.

Challenges and changes will continue to present themselves throughout the semester and school year. But people are meant to learn and grow through such oppositions. And there is no better place to do that than here at City College.

Summer’s over, and I’ve stored enough wild memories in three months to span a year. I’m ready for school, but I can’t help but feel an inward panic writhing inside my bowels, destined to get cut loose by a simple irrational trigger, like a stolen parking spot.

That’s when I’ll likely go crazy on a fellow.

I’ll end up yelling something that doesn’t make sense, like, “You’re ruining my life you PARKING SPOT FIEND,” flicking my cigarette at his feet as he steps out of his car, and then speeding off to hustle to another spot.

In his writing, Hunter S. Thompson often refers to something called “The Fear.” Well, I’ve come to know “The Panic.” Those who know me well have seen it.

A couple of weeks ago, I picked up my friend Kyle to spend a mellow summer afternoon doing what I do best — nothing.

Kyle’s a sensitive, artsy, writer/musician/ wanderer, daydreaming kind of guy. We would spend hours talking about “2012 this, psychedelic that,” and a lot of “what the hell am I gonna do with my life?” Stuff like that.

This time, my artsy friend made a plan, more like a life decision.

“I think I finally know what I want to major in,” Kyle said to me.

“Awesome! What is it,” I asked, thinking English Literature or Philosophy.

“Neuroscience,” he said.

“Oh.” That’s when I started getting “The Panic.”

Several of my friends are about to graduate.

A few have. And some are like me — people who can’t make up their minds because they want to do everything while doing nothing to get there.

And if these people, who are like me, are pushy enough to somehow wriggle their foot into a door of opportunity, they realize that they don’t like where they’re headed. Like me, they realize that they don’t want to do anything at all.

“The Panic” began to lurk and I thought about people I once wanted to be: an artist at five, an astronaut at eight and now, a journalist. I remembered freshman year of high school, taking the career assessment test.

The results: a clown and a journalist. I chose the latter.

While talking to Kyle, I thought about the delusions of grandeur my childhood friends

shared, some wanting to be the “first woman president” in elementary school, and as we were graduating from high school, wanting to be doctors, lawyers, even stand-up comedians and famed musicians and actors.

Donna’s Dig Donna P. Crilly

Eventually, most of them changed their career goals to some dull thing I can never remember, and I feel guilty for having to re-ask them every time we meet. We talk about the mediocre lives we’re getting ready to lead.

However, the same isn’t true for all of my friends. A few know exactly what they’re going to do and they’re on their way to doing it. I can’t decide if I admire their zeal and certainty or if I’m jealous. Probably both.

“You f@#%&$,” I thought when I crept on new Facebook pictures of old acquaintances wearing caps and gowns with the title of their photo album reading, “I did it!”

“That’s random,” I thought, when I saw my friend in the preview for the Billy Ray Cyrus Movie “Flying By.” My favorite answer to the “life” question was from my friend Alli. Stated simply and boldly: marry rich, take random courses at the local community college (for fun), live in a big house, smoke in it. It was an honest answer, a lifestyle I may not choose for myself, but I admire the bold declaration. It was an ease to my symptoms of “The Panic.”

Donna P. Crilly is City Times’ arts editor

Opposing viewpoints — smoking on campus Stop poisoning Urbanalities my healthy lungs

By Michele Suthers

Got a problem?

Stick a filter in it

As a non-smoker, I am all for the smoking limitations that will be “imposed” (if you want to call it that) on the City College community.

No one can argue with the fact that cigarette smoke is not healthy for both smokers and secondhand smokers alike. The smoking ban on campus encourages students, professors

It’s official; City College has jumped on the smoke-free bandwagon. For a smoker like me this means being relegated to the badlands of the campus parking lot where I get the added health benefit of car exhaust to my nicotine cocktail. Thank you student health services for pushing this ban in an attempt to save me from my own bad habits. I suppose I can

Snuff out

Light up

and administrators alike to follow the new regulation on campus and be healthier and who knows maybe, quite possibly quit smoking.

According to a June 2005 Executive Summary from the California Environmental Protection Agency, tobacco smoke was labeled as a toxic air contaminant. Don’t forget that this nasty smoke is straight up “toxic.”

The smoking ban on campus is long overdue. Every time a smoker smokes, they literally cutting minutes off of their lifespan and the lifespan of the non-voluntary secondhand smokers around them, not to mention the money that will be saved on the now almost $5 to $6 a pack price tag and future smoker medical bills.

According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control) 400,000 American deaths each year are related to tobacco smoking, not to mention the heart disease, cancer and respiratory problems that have all been proven to be caused by cigarette smoking. There are many of us who have friends and family that have attempted to quit smoking many times

make room for a few more pollutants if that keeps even one pristine lunged person from having a whiff of my second hand smoke.

The no-compromise stance of City College, not to mention Mesa and the others in the district, seem to me, extreme. To say that there is so little breathable air on campus that we can’t share, even small-designated sections, with smokers is a farce. The fact that eventually some non-smoker will have to spend 1.3 seconds of their lung capacity walking past me (in my designated smokers colony) on their way to class, seems not so big a deal when I imagine that they’ve just spent 20 minutes inhaling exhaust while trolling for a parking spot. You know those asthmatics (the ones most affected by our smoke) are not biking to school.

I wonder if City’s new stance isn’t so much about protecting non-smokers as it is about bullying me into becoming one of them.

City’s snappy new smoke free campus posters give a list of reasons why “our campus” will benefit from being smoke free. For example: Our campus will be better because “I”

See BREATH, page 4

See SMOKE, page 4

Carlos Maia

CityTimes Volume 64, Number 1 August 25, 2009 www.sdcitytimes.com

Evonne Ermey

Published as: The Jay Sees / 1945-1949 Fortknightly / 1949-1978 City Times / 1978Incorporating the newspapers Tecolote, Knight Owl and Flicks

How to reach us: City Times San Diego City College 1313 Park Blvd.

San Diego, CA 92101 Newsroom: T-316

Phone: (619) 388-3880 Fax: (619) 388-3814 E-mail: citytimes@gmail.com Program homepage: www.sdcity.edu/citytimes

Shevaun Brandom Design Editor

Contributors Evonne Ermey, Rachael Phillips

Carlos Maia Managing Editor

Michele Suthers Illustrator Calendar Editor

Donna P. Crilly Arts Editor

Roman S. Koenig Journalism Adviser

Join the City Times news staff!

Get to know your campus and your own writing abilities! Join 210-A: Newspaper Production. This is the official 3-unit lab that students join to work on City Times. The official class time is T/Th, 11 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. but includes time outside those hours, as well. The CRN number for the course is 66863. For more information, contact adviser Roman Koenig at (619) 388-3815.

Roda Marie Catapang Vanessa Gomez Editors-in-Chief

City Times is published twice monthly during the semester. Signed opinions are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily represent those of the entire newspaper staff, City College administration, faculty and staff or the San Diego Community College District Board of Trustees.

District policy statement This publication is produced as a learning experience under a San Diego Community College District instructional program. All materials, including opinions expressed herein, are the sole responsibility of the students and should not be interpreted to be those of the college district, its officers or employees.

Letters to the editor Letters to the editor are welcome, 350 words or less. The staff reserves the right to edit letters for grammar, spelling, punctuation and length.

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City Times

ARTS | VOICE

August 25, 2009

Street Scene end of summer block party Beastie Boys cancel Street Scene appearance due to health

By Vanessa Gomez City Times

Although Beastie Boys had been slated as a late addition to headline this year, Rob Hagey was sad to confirm the cancellation of their performance for Street Scene’s 25th anniversary event.

Adam Yauch, the founding member known as MCA, was diagnosed with throat cancer. Yauch shared the news with the public through a homemade video posted on their website expressing regret regarding the necessary cancellations of numerous scheduled festivals. Yauch also noted the details of his cancer.

“The good news is, they did scans of my whole body and it’s only localized in this one area, and it’s not in a place that affects my voice, so ... that’s nice.

That’s convenient,” Yauch laughed.

“So it’s a little bit of a setback - it’s a pain in the ass - but this is something that’s very treatable, and in most cases ... they’re able to completely get rid of it, and people don’t have continuing problems with it, and they’ve caught it early and it’s not anywhere else in my body. So, that’s the good news.”

In a press release, Hagey stated that they “were glad that doctors were able to diagnose the cancerous tumor early and

Event Info n Event takes place Aug. 28-29, Friday and Saturday. n Two-day passes are $85; single-day passes are $65. n Doors open at 4 p.m. and ends at midnight, both nights. n The event is 21 and up only.

wish Adam a fast and safe recovery. It is time for Adam to take care of Adam and our thoughts are with him and his family during this difficult time.”

Hagey further commented that he considers the Beastie Boys an “irreplaceable act, which will truly be missed, but [that] the show will continue to highlight its original phenomenal line-up with its amazing talent and great venue.”

After the Beastie Boys cancellation, producers brought in other hiphop acts such as Public Enemy and Busta Rhymes to boost an already loaded Saturday lineup.

San Diego’s 25th annual Street Scene

By Vanessa Gomez City Times

For many students not ready for summer to end, San Diego’s 25th annual Street Scene, a downtown neighborhood tradition, will remedy autumn woes.

One of the city’s most popular music festivals hits the streets of East Village this Friday and Saturday from 4 p.m. to midnight. This two-day, all-ages event showcases a diverse lineup, including different genres of music ranging from hip-hop to “indie” Rock.

Although the festival has moved locations in the past, including a two-year stint at Qualcomm Stadium 2005-2006 and a recent stop at Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre in 2007, this summer tradition will once again return to its roots in the streets of East Village.

The festivals’ grounds will feature five stages, two beer gardens, a margarita cantina, exclusive VIP areas and various food and merchandise vendors. The festival vendors promise to bring all the adult beverages and tasty treats that will energize the concertgoers to dance all day and night.

Music industry heavies The Black Eyed Peas and M.I.A. will headline this year’s impressive lineup. VH1 favorites Silversun Pickups and Modest Mouse are also on the bill, as are dance and electronica acts, Chromeo and Thievery Corporation.

Street Scene regulars, Nortec Collective Bostich+Fussible and West Indian Girl will once again perform this year.

This year’s collection of artists was selected by Rob Hagey, founder of Street Scene, and Tim Mays of the Casbah.

“Street Scene has always been known as Southern California’s premier music festival with its famous line-up and this year’s 25th anniversary is the best to date,” Hagey said in the event’s official press release.

City students are some of the closest to the action, as Street Scene will be located adjacent to Petco Park, spanning 13th and 14th Avenues and streets J, K, and L. Event promoters ensure the public that ample parking will be available but encourage San Diegans to take advantage of the trolley system while traveling to Street Scene. For those of you living outside downtown limits, a special event “Red Line” for direct service to the show will be running from Qualcomm Stadium, giving concertgoers the option to park in the stadium parking lot and continue directly to the festival.

Tickets for the festival can be purchased through the official website. Students can spend some of that summer job cash on the two-day passes, available for $122 plus a $10.50 service fee. If you prefer to leave one of your weekend days open, go for the single day pass, available for $65 plus a $9 service fee.

An ultra-swanky VIP pass, priced at $250 per person, per day, includes exclusive VIP areas, full dinner service, a hosted well bar, separate restrooms, special entertainment and entry into Street Scene.

Photos courtesy of Street Scene Pictured: Crowds gathered at street scene in 2008 in the East Village. n Attendees are encouraged to take public transportation to the event.

The San Diego Trolley’s 12th and Imperial station is steps away from the south gate entrance. MTS bus routes 4, 11, 901 and 929 all arrive at the 12th and Imperial station. n Prohibited items include video cameras, professional cameras and alcohol, among other items, which is listed on the event’s Web site.

“Half-Blood Prince” shines “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” is cinematically stunning to watch, if anything else. It grossed $104 million worldwide on its opening day and broke many records to become the second largest grossing film to open on a Wednesday. This is the sixth installment in the “Potter” series and a great lead into the next two, and last, films in the series.

“Half Blood Prince,” starring Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, Emma Watson as Hermione, and Rupert Grint, as Ron, is a story of blossoming love, and the ongoing fight Harry has to kill his sworn enemy since birth, Lord Voldemort.

Most people who have read the book will likely compare the two. Harry Potter fanat-

Movie Review Tom Andrew

ics shouldn’t waste their time. The film on its own is great and the Hogwarts trio have grown up and become much better actors over the years. If you must compare, do yourself a favor and try to realize that the producers probably had to decide where to spend their money. That might help if your favorite scenes from the book didn’t make the film, and there are many.

Harry is joined, early on, by the Head of Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore, played by Michael Gambon, who took over from the deceased Richard Harris. Although Gambon may have grown on “Potter” fans as Dumbledore, he doesn’t have the grandfatherly feel that Harris did.

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will have a decreased risk of cancer, stroke and dare I say it? Wrinkles. Our campus will be better because “I” will be better able to taste my food and concentrate on my exams.

Our campus will be better because “I” will have more money to spend? On what? School books? All this followed up with a freedom from smoking hotline number. If this poster had said anywhere on it ANYTHING about the environment or someone else’s health other than my own (a smoker) I could have

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throughout their smoking lives, and to those folks I say embrace this new ban on campus as one more reason to quit your life-threatening habit.

According to the ALA (American Lung association) secondhand smoke causes disease and premature deaths in 50,000 adult non-smokers each year and 3,000 lung cancer deaths per year, so please consider our nonsmoking lungs when you light up.

In the defense of smokers I do believe the

Much of the action in “Half-Blood Prince” revolves around the main characters falling in love, which is handled well enough that it doesn’t take over the film entirely. There is a spectacular Quidditch match, a rampage by some Deatheaters, a few trips through the Pensieve, and enough humor to keep the story moving.

Some fine acting is turned in by the supporting cast, which always seems to be the case. An underused Maggie Smith, who plays Professor McGonagall, is still amazing after all of these years. Jim Broadbent takes on the role of Horace Slughorn with panache.

Helena Bonham Carter is delightfully creepy and menacing as Bellatrix. Alan Rickman, also underused, has the role of Professor Snape down pat. He doesn’t even have to say anything anymore; just one look from him and you KNOW what he’s thinking. Other notable supporting cast members include Julie Walters, Timothy Spall, David Thewlis, and Robbie Coltrane.

The direction by David Yates does move along swiftly for a two-and-a-half hour film and even though a lot of the book isn’t in the movie, it makes sense on its own. A couple of the scenes that were missing should have been in the movie, but go without. The film was very good.

Tom Andrew is a City Times staff writer

taken it with a grain of salt. But it didn’t.

As an adult who can make her own decisions, it is my constitutional right to smoke and abuse my body as I see fit. Non-smoking missionaries please don’t push me to the point where I begin to look at my cigarette as a symbol of constitutional freedom. Let’s compromise. A few designated smoking spots, as implemented during the summer session, seem like a reasonable relationship between us.

Keep in mind, Disneyland has designated smoking areas and they’re the happiest place on Earth.

Evonne Ermey is a City Times staff writer school district needs to in someway tread lightly to protect the civil rights of both smokers and nonsmokers. The smoking ban at City is merely a limitation and not a ban, so please be considerate to non-smokers by letting us inhale some fresh air and go smoke your cancer sticks in the designated areas.

Maybe next to McDonald’s since obesity may soon overtake tobacco as the leading cause of death in America according to a study done by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. Wherever you decide to do it, just keep it out of my lungs.

Lets Keep City healthier and cleaner.

Carlos Maia is City Times’ managing editor