Cerritos College will be under construction during Christmas break, but things are already in preparation for the construction.

Some of the older buildings on campus are in need of an upgrade. The Liberal Arts building will be the first building on the campus to go under the seismic retrofit.

In preparation for the retrofit of the Liberal Arts building, a section of parking lot C-5 has been closed as of Dec 3.

The parking lot section will be closed until the end of April 2003.

“We are required by the Construction Company to give them a space for their equipment,” said Wayne Nunnery, Director of Operations.

Since the state wants to make sure that older buildings on campuses are safe they allocated monies for the retrofitting.

The project on the Liberal Arts building will start during Christmas break and last through the end of April.

Students will still be able to attend class in Liberal Arts while the construction is taking place.

“Most of the noisy part of the construction will be while the students are on their two week Christmas break,” Nunnery said.

Nunnery realizes that this will cause an inconvenience to some on the campus.

“I can’t please everyone, it will be an inconvenience to students and faculty, but the overall effect of the project will be good,” he said.

Also during next summer the Social Science building will be retrofitted and parking lot C-4 will be closed for the construction company to store equipment in.

“I know the faculty will not be happy about this lot being closed, but the retrofit is something that needs to be done,” he said.

Nunnery really wants the students and faculty to have a positive attitude about the construction because its overall effect will make the building safer to be in.

“We are doing this to protect the students, faculty and anyone else in the buildings,” Nunnery said.

While the buildings are being retrofitted the bathrooms will also be under renovations.

More changes will also be happening during the Christmas break that will please students and faculty.

Starting Dec 18, the following parking lots will be closed for repairs and are being repaved and painted with bright new lines. This includes parking lots C-1, C-2, C-13 including access road, C-8 and Gridley Road.

Anyone who has traveled the bumpy parking lots of Cerritos should know that the parking lot is in need of repair.

“The parking lots bring up the fact about liability and it is important for us to keep the students and faculty safe here at Cerritos,” Nunnery said.

The repaving will be complete in the two weeks that students are on Christmas break.

The money for the parking lot repairs come from C.O.P, which stands for Certificate of Participation. They will be allocating $800,050 for the repavement of the parking lots.

In the Spring C-10 and the lots on the Studebaker Road side will be repaved and have bright new lines as well.

“Nobody really enjoys the bumpy rides through the parking lots, we are in definite need of this improvement,” Nunnery said.

“Yes, actually it would be nice, and [it would also be nice] to have some shade in the parking lots, it wouldn’t hurt for them to put in some trees,” said Ayne Laveaga, Photography major.