The voice of De Anza since 1967 Volume 60, Issue 1
Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024
lavozdeanza.com
Flint Center demolition PHOTO BY ANN PENALOSA
Chief Daniel Acosta speaks to Foothill-De Anza Police Sergeant Shane Lueddeke at the Taser community forum on Sept. 17 in the Media and Learning Center.
Students express concern over Tasers Axon, FHDA police give reasons to acquire the ‘less-lethal’ weapon
By Ingrid Lu and Ann Penalosa
LA VOZ STAFF
PHOTO BY FRANK MAYERS
Construction workers spray water to suppress dust from spreading during demolition of the west-facing side of the Flint Center on Oct. 24.
Teardown of historic event center moves forward to make way for future projects, despite setbacks By Frank Mayers De Anza College’s historic Flint Center for the Performing Arts is being demolished to make way for a new event center. Funded by the Measure G mega project, the demolition comes in the wake of the Flint Center’s closure five years ago. Excavators and work crews began tearing the building apart on Oct. 8, knocking a hole in the front of the building and beginning to demolish internal concrete structures as well as tearing open the wall facing the Flint parking structure; exposing gutted bathrooms, hand railings and seating sections within the nowdefunct theater. This comes after months of preparation for the exterior demolition over the summer, including the removal of roofing tiles, siding, as well as considerable interior work to remove hazardous materials. This demolition is just the first step in ex-
tensive construction and infrastructure work required to fully replace the soon-to-be former Flint Center. Initially planned to run from July 2 to Sept. 30, the demolition is now scheduled to continue into January 2025 per the Measure G construction updates page. This delay is likely because of a reshuffling of the Measure G taskforce, as reported on by La Voz in June, and the lengthy procedures required for removal of hazardous materials. On June 10, 2019, the FHDA Board of Trustees voted to permanently close the Flint Center, ending its 48-year tenure as De Anza’s primary event center. The decision to close and fully replace the Flint Center came as a result of assessments finding the building not to meet multiple structural and seismic and safety codes. These deficiencies, as well as the likely presence of asbestos, a highly toxic insulation material, were highlighted in a 2023 environmental
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LA VOZ STAFF
impact report filed with the state of California under the California Environmental Quality Act. As reported by La Voz in May, the initial budget of $75 million for the project was lowered to only $55 million, after $20 million was reallocated to Foothill College’s dental hygiene clinic. On Sept. 25 the Measure G taskforce unanimously approved a request for an initial $30 million out of the existing $55 million for construction of the new performing arts center and $9 million for a utilities building to support the new event center. The board also referenced a plan to demolish the existing arts quad to build a new student services building at that location. However, according to the FHDA Bonds website, the Arts Quad demolition plan has been on hold since October 2023 and is still pending a final decision from the taskforce on whether to proceed with the plan or in a different direction.
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Students, community members and faculty, including incoming senators in the De Anza Student Government, attended a community forum on tasers in the Media and Learning Center on Tuesday, Sept. 17. The forum, hosted by the FoothillDe Anza District Police and moderated by Foothill College’s Dean of Equity, Ajami M. Byrd and De Anza’s Dean of Equity and Engagement, Michelle Hernandez, centered around whether district police should be able to add Tasers to their arsenal, as well as the risks that the weapons pose to students, faculty, staff and administrators. District Police Chief Daniel Acosta, Sgt. Shane Luedekke and
Community Relations Officer Joy Garza represented the police department, joined by Steve Tuttle, a distinguished Taser fellow and former vice president of strategic communications at Axon Enterprises — the manufacturer that district police consider purchasing Tasers from. “I understand that there’s a deep concern over the piece of equipment because it poses an issue if it’s abused. I come from another police department where we carried those and for 15 years out of the 27 years that I worked there in total, I carried a Taser,” Luedekke said. “In the vast majority of cases, it was good that we had (a Taser) because, off the top of my head, I can tell you about two circumstances where if I didn’t have that Taser, it may have very well ended in an officer involved shooting.” In addition to their service weapons, district police currently carry pepper spray, handcuffs and expandable batons.
See Tasers on page 2.
How did De Anza vote? With the election over, the mock ballot collected by La Voz shows De Anza students’ stance in the election By Mitchell Park
LA VOZ STAFF
Donald Trump was elected president on Nov. 6, also receiving the popular vote. On Oct. 29 and Oct. 30, La Voz News conducted an informal poll in the main quad, open to all students and faculty on campus. The goal was to find out if the De Anza community planned to vote in the 2024 election and who their preferred candidate was, regardless of whether they planned to vote or not. Here are the results: Out of 226 responses, 126 planned to vote in the election. The survey found that social science majors were projected to have the highest turnout,
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with 77.8% of respondents planning to vote or already voted. Meanwhile, health science majors had the weakest predicted turnout at 38.9%. At 55.8%, De Anza would have a better voter turnout than both California or the United States had in 2020 (45% and 47.8% of their total adult populations, respectively). Despite the encouraging projections, some students still face obstacles to voting. “I’m not really into politics,” Lana Tran, 18, a nursing major, said. Tran said people should participate in elections, but feels she doesn’t know enough about it.
See Voting on page 2.
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