GROSSMONT COLEGE — One of the main observations a person comes out with after a talk with Grossmont Police Chief Joel Javines is the incredible variety of different sorts of issues he deals with.

Two issues touched upon in a recent  news conference with the Summit staff involved follow-up to September’s brushfire north of the campus, and the status of the parking meters on the loop road between parking lots 1 and 7.

Regarding the fire, Javines said that Grossmont has taken several precautions to ensure that firefighters can easily access the area where the fire occurred. He and administrator Tim Flood toured the entire campus with the El Cajon Fire Marshal. They examined areas where fire lanes could be developed or improved to ensure that firefighters have more convenient access to brush locations and firefighting equipment.

Grossmont also put in a new “red, no-parking, fire-lane that is going to allow vehicle access” near the gate that opens from the campus to the brushland to the north.  It fills temporarily a gap, based on the Fire Marshal’s review, and” it is good, but we want to make it better,” Javines said. One plan in the works is to widen the gate itself. Javines and the Fire Marshal also discussed the need for vegetation and brush clearance in the areas just outside the campus.

Regarding parking elsewhere on campus, Javines confirmed that the parking meters are not coming back any time soon. The parking spaces were removed at the request of the MTS to ensure room for its buses. “I know that as long as the construction is going on – which is going to be 18 months to two years – there will not be any additional parking-meters located there, we anticipate that the bus-service will be in that area for that time.”

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Dudley is a student in Media Comm 132