Wednesday, February 5, 1997
CONSTRUCTION:
New funding will help repair quake-damaged edificeBy Brooke
Olson
Daily Bruin Staff
More than three years after the Northridge earthquake, Vice
President Al Gore presented UCLA on Tuesday with a $5.2 million
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant to further fund
the seismic correction of Royce Hall.
"I’ve got some good news for you," Gore said in a telephone
conference with Chancellor Charles E. Young.
"Royce Hall is an inspirational symbol of UCLA … and we’re
going to stay right on the case" to make sure that the building is
completed, Gore said.
Built in 1928 as one of the four original buildings on campus,
Royce Hall housed the UCLA Center for Performing Arts in addition
to several other departments. Severely damaged during the Jan. 17,
1994 earthquake, construction crews have been working to bring
Royce Hall up to current building codes and remodel the
interior.
"When Royce reopens, it will be more beautiful and more
functional than ever before," Young said. "We are building it to
withstand earthquakes the magnitude of the Northridge quake … as
well as bring it up to a certain cosmetic level."
The building is tentatively scheduled to reopen by the end of
Fall Quarter 1997.
But since FEMA has already allocated more than $32 million to
renovate Royce Hall, some question the pomp and circumstance behind
Gore’s presentation.
Administrators and FEMA officers contend that the announcement
was necessary to remind people that full recovery from the
earthquake is not yet complete.
"This whole process of rebuilding has gotten so messy and
confusing that people forget that (FEMA) still has funds to put
out," said Leland Wilson, federal coordinating officer at the
agency.
And the university is currently negotiating with FEMA for
additional funds. Total repair cost estimates for Royce Hall exceed
$68 million, nearly twice the amount of the current federal
grants.
Although UCLA has requested an additional $22 million, agency
officers remarked that the process to distribute the money takes
time.
"The forms are being processed … but we’re definitely working
on it," FEMA’s Wilson said. "You (allocate funds) by increments as
things come together."
To date, FEMA has finished funding the renovation of private
homes and has $3 billion left to spend on the repair of any
remaining damaged public buildings, Wilson said.
Meanwhile, the university has received over $470 million in
grants from FEMA, with nearly 90 percent of the money being used to
repair the medical center.
The closure of Royce Hall has caused the relocation of classes,
offices and administrators.
The six university departments that were once housed in the
building were especially affected by the earthquake. The offices of
the French, Scandinavian, Italian, Romance languages, linguistics,
comparative literature and German departments have been shuffled
around the campus.
In addition, some theater performances have been moved to the
Veterans Wadsworth Theater and other Westwood theaters.
Administrators noted that not all campus events and operations will
be moved back to Royce this fall.
"Even after Royce opens, we’re going to continue running some of
those operations in those venues," Young said. "It provides a
greater benefit to us and to the community, as it serves as sort of
an outreach" to have such programs located both on and around the
campus.
Members of the Clinton administration stressed that the federal
government was committed to seeing Southern California residents
through to the end of this ordeal.
"Sometimes in politics the people have short attention spans but
this is one issue (where politicians) will keep going," said Sen.
Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. "We’re going to keep building brick by
brick and we’re not going to rest until we fix it all."