Campus Currents

SIFE Students Consider Future of College Place

College Place. The name implies a relationship to Walla Walla College, but how much do college students care about what happens in their town?

Quite a bit, as it turns out.

A team of five wwc students recently got involved in a project that just may change the face of College Place.

Last November, business professor JoAnn Wiggins, a member of the College Place Planning Commission, mentioned to some of her students that College Place was making changes to its comprehensive plan. After seeing a conceptual drawing of a possible “downtown” College Place, several students expressed interest in getting involved.

Rodney Baladad, senior business administration major, organized a Students in Free Enterprise (sife) team to tackle the project. sife is an international collegiate organization that encourages students to take classroom knowledge, apply it to real-life situations, and use their knowledge to better their communities.

The sife team researched what other cities were doing and put together a presentation at a planning commission meeting. Defining “downtown” College Place as the blocks north and south of the wwc campus, the students recommended efforts to create an atmosphere, where students, alumni, community members, and parents with children could all feel welcome.

Brian Tungesvik, senior business administration major, discussed parking issues on College Avenue, placing an emphasis on pedestrian safety.

Don Mansell, senior religion major, addressed possible building and signage concerns. “We need to create transitions between business and residential areas,” he said.

Heather Pope, business administration major, offered street and business lighting suggestions, pointing to recent lighting improvement at Fourth and College Avenue.

Petra Hernandez, senior communications major, spoke to the importance of having design and layout elements that work together.

“Having guidelines for homeowners and businesses that emphasize native Eastern Washington plants, appropriate business facades, signage, shaded sidewalks, and parking guidelines, we can create a unified appearance,” she said.

The presentation was well received, and the students were asked to bring their presentation to College Place City Council, where again the response was positive.

“City Council was very happy to have interaction with the students,” says Kathy Bowman, planning director for the City of College Place.

Encouraged by the response to their presentations, the students are now working on some specific proposals to present to the Planning Commission, which will make a recommendation to the City Council. If the council votes in favor of the suggestions, they will be turned into official city ordinances. W

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