Author Archives: Kennedy Petty

Parking at Chabot College

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The parking fees at Chabot have attracted attention due to their high taxes and the prices of their fines. 

Here at Chabot, the parking may seem affordable with a permit for the semester being $45 for a motor vehicle and $30 for a motorcycle; however, when compared with the price of a violation fine, the numbers don’t seem to add up.

As of 2023, the fine for a “no permit” violation is $35, less than the amount of a permit for a full semester for motor vehicles and only five dollars more than that of a motorcycle. This could be one of the main reasons some students don’t pay for parking as there is no incentive to do so, especially since it would ultimately be cheaper not to.

Campus Safety disagrees with this train of thought, however, stating that although the pricing can be considered expensive it is much cheaper than it would be at a four-year university. They go on to state that while students may feel like it would be easier to opt out of paying in general it would not be a good idea to take that risk.

“Parking permits are being enforced with officers issuing citations on a daily basis through our Permit Readers that are connected to our digital parking system. Parking enforcement is everyday with Campus Safety being on patrol 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

Not paying for parking permits can ultimately do more harm than good, according to Campus Security, as the revenue from these permits goes directly towards the maintenance of the parking lots on the campus. This is another reason that the administration urges students to pay rather than risking a “No Permit” citation, even if it would be cheaper.

Another reason that students might be disinterested in paying for parking could be attributed to the incredibly high taxes on digital payments for daily permits. The daily parking permit for all semesters is advertised on the Chabot website as being only $3 but, with taxes included it jumps to a whopping $7 when paying online. 

Of course, when paying with cash at the onsite payment podiums, these taxes can be avoided all together.  However, in a time when so many people rely on debit and credit cards as well as services like Apple Pay, it is rare that every student is carrying cash on them. Lowering these taxes or removing them all together could make students feel more inclined to pay for parking.

Regarding these issues with pricing, especially surrounding the online fees for daily passes, campus security had this to say: “Unfortunately, there is service charge on this system that is advertised when going through the online process; however, there is no service charge at the

Dispensers if students choose to go that route.” When asked why this fee is not advertised on  the website, however, campus security had no response.  

On this issue, Chabot student Michelle Mendoza says that she isn’t really affected by these taxes because she has a permit for the semester. “I like not having to worry about paying for parking when I’m rushing to class, so I bought my permit in advance. It’s much cheaper to do it that way instead of buying a daily permit everyday, anyway.” 

While some students share Mendoza’s sentiment, people like second-year student Brian Aguilar feel like permits aren’t all that necessary, stating: “I take the bus a lot of the time anyway, but if I have to drive and I’m running late or something then I’ll just risk getting the fine. It’s not worth it to get a permit for someone like me.” 

A lot of students who are in the same position as Aguilar, where they don’t drive themselves to campus, feel like the problem doesn’t affect them; however, for students who do have to worry, the task of paying for parking can seem daunting. Hopefully, in the future, Chabot’s administration can determine a solution to this parking issue that is accommodating for both the students and the college.

Pinterest Safety Updates for Children

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Pinterest, a photo-sharing app often thought of as the last safe social media platform for children by the general public, made waves last month for issues on the site regarding child safety.

An NBC article released in early March highlighting the dangers of children being on the app became the first of many on the topic. In the original NBC article, author Jesslyn Cook discussed the story of a 9-year-old girl who was using Pinterest primarily because her mother was worried about the type of content she’d be exposed to on other social media platforms like TikTok.

Unfortunately for both the mother and daughter this was not the case and shortly after creating the account, the girl’s mother found that certain accounts were saving her daughter’s posts onto boards titled things like “sexy little girls,” and “guilty pleasures.” Along with these boards, the 9-year-old was also getting bombarded with direct messages from followers, commenting inappropriately on her body.

While Pinterest has always had certain safety measures in place, like only allowing teen users to receive direct messages from users they follow and requiring users to be at least 13-years-old. Since the NBC article was published they have begun to implement even more safety requirements. The company has stated that they have increased the number of human content moderators and are developing new features that allow users to report accounts for certain offenses.

Although this is a step in the right direction, the gesture did not appease senators Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal who wrote a letter to Pinterest after the NBC article was released. According to a follow-up article written by NBC, in the letter the senators wrote: “It should not have taken national media coverage of such graphic misuse targeting young children to prompt action … This report is particularly disappointing given that Pinterest has branded itself the ‘last positive corner of the internet.’”

As of April, the app has made some drastic changes regarding their policies on child and teen safety. Accounts for users under 16 are completely private meaning that they aren’t discoverable by other people, and their accounts won’t show up when searched. Pinterest has also disabled the messaging feature for teen accounts since the article, but are currently working on updating the feature so they can “allow for safe connections with people [the] teen knows.”

Along with banning certain features, Pinterest has since swept its entire platform to deactivate any accounts they believe to be dangerous. While a good idea in theory, this has caused a lot of innocent accounts to be disabled for no reason — an issue content creator Dove Clarke was forced to deal with. After having her 10-year-old account deleted for seemingly no reason she took to Instagram, Twitter and TikTok to post her complaints.

In a tearful video on TikTok, Clarke states: “Your stuff is not safe on Pinterest. I use Pinterest religiously for my job, I used Pinterest to find myself and now it’s all gone.”

Although Clarke was able to get her account back, this whole ordeal has tarnished Pinterest’s safe image and has made people weary of the app in general. Some Chabot students have also weighed in on the subject, with second-year Isaiah Moore stating: “I don’t use Pinterest but, that’s not really surprising. Unfortunately, stuff like that happens all the time on the internet.”

Another Chabot student, Cynthia Hernandez, had this to say: “I haven’t used Pinterest since middle school but, it’s terrible that that’s how certain people would use it. It’s just supposed to be an app for sharing pictures.”

Chabot Wind Symphony Music Festival

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On May 3 the Chabot College wind symphony held a music festival conducted by Timothy Harris, Director of Bands and Music Department Coordinator at Chabot College, with clarinetist Duy Tran and the Mt. Eden high school orchestra as special guests.

The show began with a performance by the Mount Eden High School orchestra and was followed by three performances by Chabot’s wind symphony, one of which featured a solo by Chabot student and pharmacist Dr. Duy Tran. Dr. Tran’s solo during a piece composed by renowned American music composer, Johnathan Leshnoff, highlighted his amazing breath control and skill while demonstrating why, “He is one of the finest clarinetists here at Chabot,” according to Harris.

After Dr. Tran’s performance, the wind symphony performed “Variations on America” which was composed by Charles Ives. This piece was specifically chosen for this performance, according to Harris, because the composer was only seventeen at the time that he wrote it – around the same age as the Mount Eden students in the audience, giving them something to relate to.

For their final performance, the Chabot students performed a Spanish opera titled “El Gato Montes” written by Manuel Penella about the love affair between a bull fighter and the woman he loves. This dramatic piece is well known throughout the musical world as it was the inspiration for many other march composers like John Philip Sousa who wrote the national march, “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”

The students in both the Mount Eden orchestra and the Chabot wind symphony showed incredible talent and skill during their performances and that could be seen by how well they were received by the audience. Applause could be heard before and after every piece and audience members whispered about their approval throughout the performances.

After the festival was over a lot of the audience members spoke about how much they enjoyed the performances, with most being supportive family members of both the Chabot and Mount Eden ensembles. First year Chabot student Natalie Munoz attended the show after seeing the flier on Chabot’s website and said that she really enjoyed all the performances, stating: “I was in the orchestra at my high school, so it was cool to see high school students and college students play at the same level.”

Sims 4 Update: Playable Babies & Bay Area World

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On Mar. 14 Electronics Arts (EA) released a patch update for the Sims 4 which introduced infants, making them the youngest playable life stage in any Sims game so far. Along with this patch, EA also released a new expansion pack featuring a world modeled after the Bay Area, CA.

This new update was highly anticipated by fans of the Sims franchise as it introduced a concept that hadn’t been seen in any of the Sims games over the past twenty years: playable babies. Up until now, babies in the Sims games were no more than objects that players could interact with and even then these interactions were limited. Not only were they limited in interactions but, before this update, baby sims could only come in three skin tones and were confined to their cribs.

In games like the Sims 2 and 3, players were able to satisfy their baby-fever with toddlers; however, for the Sims 4, toddlers weren’t added to the game until 2017 – nearly three years after its release. Before this, newborn Sims would immediately age into children, skipping a vital life stage and taking away the opportunity for them to bond with other Sims in that aspect.

The “Growing Together” expansion pack combats this issue by adding the concept of milestones to the game, allowing Sims to remember and be influenced by the good and bad moments that have happened to them throughout their lives. Sims can now reminisce about their first time riding a back or losing a tooth, a feature that is similar to the “memories” in the Sims 2 which helped provide a basic form of storytelling for the players.

San Sequoia, the new world that came with the “Growing Together” expansion pack for the Sims 4, is just one of many in-game worlds based on places in real life. Worlds like Del Sol Valley from their “Get Famous” pack and Sulani from the “Island Living” expansion pack are based on Los Angeles and Hawaii, respectively. Regarding San Sequoia the developers drew inspiration from Silicon Valley specifically, adding in NPCs with jobs as app developers and start-up employees.

This new world mirrors the Bay Area in terms of diversity, as well, by adding the games first canonically transgender and non-binary Sims, Celeste Michaelson and Jay Robles. The NPCs can talk about their gender-identity with players through certain social interactions if they have a high enough relationship level.

While a lot of members of the Sims 4 community were initially excited about the new pack, a month after its release, it received mixed reviews – with a lot of those being on whether or not the content in the pack should’ve been released for free.

Youtuber Catkin commented that this was the first pack they felt that nearly everything included should’ve been included in the base game, stating: “The milestones, relationships and quirks are all quite important and would have been a huge quality of life update.”

Among these complaints, there was also the argument that this pack was only focused on familial interaction and didn’t offer anything for players that are not interested in that playstyle. Reddit user Nicky Q says that the pack is useless to them since they don’t play with families. They say: “I play Sims to live my best childfree life with a bunch of pets. I’m happy for everyone else, but if I ever end up buying this pack it would just be for the build items.”

A Street Closure

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Due to major flooding from February’s storms, many roads in the Bay Area have been closed, including A street in Hayward. The road has been closed since late December last year and is scheduled to reopen sometime in the middle of March 2023 according to the Hayward Police Department and the Public Works Agency of Alameda. 

The recent storms in the beginning of this year have had different side effects on the state of California. An increase in potholes on the streets and flooding has caused multiple roads to be closed as well as causing sinkholes to open up across the Bay Area. 

One of these sinkholes, which opened near San Lorenzo Creek in Castro Valley, is what caused A St. to collapse after a storm on New Year’s Eve. The soil that stood against the creek was oversaturated with rainwater and eroded away, causing major damage to the street as well as people’s homes and backyards that were adjacent to it. 

Michelle Smith, a Castro Valley resident, had this to say when asked by reporters at KRON: “I’m worried about the roads and the properties and the people that live near it. There’s a lot of houses that have their backyards against this creek.”

Smith’s concerns are valid according to meteorologists, who say that residents should remain cautious as most of the soil is still extremely waterlogged and at risk of flooding. “The ground is still saturated. There’s still going to be plenty of chance for runoff and localized flooding,” says Colby Goatley, a National Weather Service meteorologist, who urges people to keep paying attention during this time.

Street view of sink hole closed off with fencing. Residents home on the other side of fence. Trees and yard demolished by sink hole.

Similar to what happened on A St., a situation occurred on Faircliffe St. in Hayward in mid-January where a large section of the hillside eroded due to the heavy rainfall. While no roads ended up being affected by this, the mudslide caused by this erosion left at least one house on Faircliffe uninhabitable. 

More of these incidents have occurred since January as California has continued to experience heavy rainfall and has caused a lot of problems for the city administrators as well as its citizens. Besides A St. being closed, the following roads near Hayward are under construction and will be closed until further notice according to the Public Works Agency of Alameda: Foothill Rd., Lake Chabot Rd., Kilkare Rd. and many others. 

Fortunately, as of Mar. 6, many of these roads have been reopened — especially those in Castro Valley — including Crow Canyon Rd., Eden Canyon Rd. and Redwood Rd. which also suffered from a large sinkhole in early January of this year. However, residents on A St. will have to wait a little longer for things to go back to normal in their neighborhoods.

Fenced off section divides A St. to keep drivers and pedestrians safe from sink hole. Cars having to navigate around the structure.

Chabot College Celebrates Black History Month

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In honor of Black History Month, clubs geared toward students of color hosted events during February.

Most of these events were virtual, like the screening of Black Voices from the Ivory Tower that Dr. Khalid White presented on Feb. 3 and a Zoom discussion on the impact of violence on the mental health of African American college students on Feb. 9. The discussion, which was held by Pathway to Wellness, took place earlier in the month.

On Feb. 15, the Umoja Community, named after the Swahili word for unity and one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa, hosted a day carnival from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. where students were encouraged to come and celebrate with food, music, and prizes. At the end of the month, there was a Black Scholars Family Night in which Black students that earned a 3.0 GPA or higher in the Fall semester of 2022 were honored and awarded. These events took place in the Event Center in the 700 building and were open to all students. 

If students were unable to attend any of these events or are interested in celebrating Black culture outside of Black History month, the Chabot community provides opportunities to do so throughout the year. The Black Cultural Resource Center, located in room 136 of the 100 building, hosts cultural events and workshops all year long and provides a space for students who identify as Black, African American, and Afro-Latinx to get the support they need. 

This support goes beyond academics as the Black Cultural Resource Center offers services like mental wellness counseling, career counseling, transfer resources, and basic needs support.

Along with the Black Cultural Resource Center — special programs like Umoja, Striving Black Brothers, and My Sister’s Keeper aim to create a space for Black students to thrive by focusing on African American history, literature, and culture. 

By providing the core four courses as well as multiple other transferable courses, Umoja strives to support Black students with their academic goals by promoting “togetherness,” — as described by sophomore Christian Green. Besides their cohort classes, the Umoja program also provides personal counseling for all of their students. Umoja counselor and coordinator Tommy Reed says, “Their ability to build a connection with students and their timely responses are a large part of what makes the program so useful.” 

Outside of academics, Umoja promotes community outreach by hosting events on campus throughout the semester. While they have done less since the pandemic, whereas before, they used to host three to four events per semester, Umoja regularly hosts open mics and partners with the Black Cultural Resource Center to host Chop it Up Tuesdays — in which students are encouraged to come to the Black Cultural Resource Center and discuss whatever topics are on their minds. 

If you are interested in joining Umoja or the other groups on campus that are geared toward Black students, you only need to reach out to the individual programs through the Chabot website and apply. Umoja has no GPA requirement, and all students are welcome to apply.

Chabot Beats Skyline in Men’s Basketball

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The Chabot men’s basketball team won 104-87 against Skyline on Jan. 25.

Sophomores Jaiden Rivera and David Hector were the two Chabot players that scored the most points during the game scoring 19 and 18 points, respectively. Freshman starter Diggy Winbush also stood out by scoring 15 points and getting four assists. 

Chabot men’s basketball player David Hector, number 20, at the free throw line making both shots with two Chabot teammates and three Skyline opponents.

After the game, David Hector and Jaiden Rivera — numbers 20 and 32, respectively — agreed that their overall defense could be improved going into the next game. 

As for their individual performances, the players were almost overly critical of themselves — even despite winning the game. Freshman shooting guard Zachary Broadous, number 13, stated that he felt like he performed “below average” for what he usually does; however, he was hopeful that he’d perform better in their next games. 

Broadous added, “next game, I would make sure to slow down, hit my shots, and be more aggressive — both offensively and defensively.” 

Although they may have seemed somewhat disappointed in their performances, all of the players I spoke with said they felt confident going into the game. Hector said, “I was just worried about winning.” 

Since the Jan. 25 game, the men’s basketball team has played one game against Foothill College, in which they won 93-87. 

Keenan Mcmiller, the head coach for the men’s basketball team, stated that the team’s success could be attributed to many things. He made sure to highlight qualities like the team’s ability to encourage each other, their willingness to share the ball when the offense is in, and only a few turnovers as the main reasons they have been so successful this season. 

Another quality that Coach McMiller emphasized was support among the teammates and the community. With the team being undefeated at home, including their win in last night’s game, it’s clear that the Chabot community’s support significantly impacts their performance. Coach McMiller added that the team was “getting there,” especially since they’ve been continuously winning games. 

Chabot students should look forward to the basketball games this season, argues McMiller, because the players play with pride and determination — something that students can relate to. 

As far as team support, the members of the men’s basketball team are all extremely close, acting more like a family than a team. This is in large part due to the frequent preseason trips that the team had the opportunity to go on, which doubled as bonding experiences for them. Taking trips along the coast, from Los Angeles to schools up north, helped the team learn to adapt & work with each other on and off the court — and boosted team morale. 

Support and bonding aside, the team has earned much of its success simply because they work hard. With three-hour practices every day, it is no surprise that the team is as strong and in sync as they are. 

This strength can also be seen off the court as they devote their downtime to their academic studies. For Coach McMiller and the rest of the basketball team, academic success is critical. 

Student-athletes are expected to maintain at least a 2.5 grade-point average and have to participate in four hours of study hall per week in the learning connection center, as well as turning in weekly progress reports. 

The learning connection center located in building 100 is an excellent resource for all students here at Chabot, according to Coach McMiller, and is one of the things that sets Chabot apart from other community colleges. The fact that the learning centers aren’t oversaturated and that the learning connection community constantly strives to serve students and athletes better makes Chabot special.