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Montigny proposes new, expanded BCC campus for New
Bedford
By Joe Cohen
Standard-Times staff writer
NEW BEDFORD — State Sen. Mark C.W. Montigny said today
he is putting forward a plan for a new, separate campus
for Bristol Community College in this city’s downtown
that could triple the college’s existing space,
consolidate all operations in one location and act as an
economic stimulus.
He said the plan has the backing of the city's entire
legislative delegation and could produce a new facility
for BCC in as few as two years, depending on whether the
state decides to buy, build or lease a building.
“I’m excited about it. It is one more jewel in the
downtown’s crown” and will offer a “whole new base to
... students,” he said. “They deserve to have a campus
to call their own.”
BCC is headquartered in Fall River. It opened its New
Bedford campus in 2001 with 437 students, and now boasts
more than 1,500. School officials said the campus is
running at 97 percent capacity, with operations spread
out in different buildings and classes offered seven
days a week and weekday evenings.
The campus offers a range of programs on two major
tracks: college degree and work-force training.
Depending on how space is measured, the campus occupies
10,000 to 14,000 square feet, while other Massachusetts
cities each have up to 1 million square feet of
community college space.
Sen. Montigny said he believes BCC needs a new facility
ranging in size from a minimum of 22,000 to as much as
40,000 square feet. He said only a rough cost estimate
could be made at this time: up to $10 million. It would
be financed with state money only.
He pointed to the Star Store campus of UMass Dartmouth
that also houses most of BCC’s local operations as an
example of how public money can be used to stimulate
private investment and lasting economic development.
As a proponent of the Star Store campus, Sen. Montigny
said he began work on that project 10 years ago as part
of a three-phase plan.
In the first phase, public money was used to leverage
private money to take an empty building in a downtown
that was not vibrant. In the second phase, private
investment followed, creating restaurants, shops and
other business activities.
In the coming third phase, he said, “We are ready for a
natural expansion of BCC” with “a structure everyone
knows is BCC’s campus” to provide worker training and
higher education. He said that while the “private sector
has bought in,” a new BCC campus will stimulate further
investment downtown in housing, entertainment and the
arts, and other commercial uses.
“We have one of the finest small-city downtowns in the
country,” he said, with what he called natural assets,
such as 200-year-old buildings, cobblestone streets and
other physical attributes that are connected to the
harbor and Buzzards Bay.
He said he views BCC as an important asset with
significant potential to train and educate the region’s
work force and help people improve their lives.
At a meeting last week conducted by local BCC officials
to report on the college’s growth and encourage local
groups to support its future plans, college officials
said there appears to be a correlation between the
amount of community college space in a Massachusetts
city and the education level of its residents and per
capita income. New Bedford was reported to have less
space than other cities by a significant amount and
correspondingly low numbers for level of education and
income.
Contact Joe Cohen at
jcohen@s-t.com
May 05, 2008
Source URL:
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080505/NEWS/80505032/-1/TOWN1001 |
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