Features

The long-anticipated proposed Peralta Community College District bond measure will come up to district trustees for consideration tonight (Tuesday), but district staff has still not decided on details of the $390 million measure. 

Trustees are scheduled to vote on the bond measure at 7 p.m. tonight (Tuesday) at the district administrative headquarters, 333 East Eighth St. in Oakland. The new bond measure is tentatively scheduled for the June ballot. 

The proposed bond measure lists no specific facilities projects in the trustee’s agenda packet, and Trustee Board President Linda Handy said that the proposed project list is still being finalized. 

“Faculty members and union officials are weighing in on priorities,” Handy said by telephone. “There’s a discussion going on, and I don’t think it’s a negative discussion. It’s the normal course of input. The board wants to know what staff members want. It’s their lives that we’re dealing with. They’re the ones who are in the trenches.” 

If the board cannot come to an agreement on the proposed projects, the bond measure could be moved to the November ballot. 

In November 2000, area voters passed a $153 million Peralta bond measure to repair and renovate classrooms, training facilities, science and computer labs, meet health and safety standards and replace inadequate electrical and sewage systems, as well as construct and acquire other facilities. 

Included in the 2000 measure was money for construction of the new Berkeley City College facility in downtown Berkeley, formerly Vista College. 

But Measure E money is almost used up, with district officials reporting last October that $141.9 million of the original $153 million is already spent or committed, and trustees and district administrative officials have been hinting for months that a new bond measure would be placed on the ballot.å