Checking In

Hi Folks,
Just another weekly update of the things that are going on around here.

Save The Date
The Campus Entertainment Department of UGBC which is responsible for many of UGBC's social campus events has finalized a few dates of important events. Please make sure to keep these free so that you will be in attendance!

Athletics 101- Pep Rally- Friday September 4th, 2009 (Conte Forum, 6-8PM)
Student Activities Day- Friday September 11th, 2009 (Dustbowl, 9AM-On)
Fall Concert- Friday September 11th, 2009 - (Performers are TBA)
Homecoming- Saturday October 10th, 2009 - (This is Columbus Day Weekend, so plan to stick around)

More dates to come

Budget
I have put together the 2009-2010 UGBC Budget proposal. This year's budget is $538,000, which represents a 2% increase from last year. The budget will now go to the UGBC Senate who will vote to approve/not approve it in early September.

Transportation


Bike Share- I believed I mentioned this in a previous entry but Parking and Transportation is looking to put together a Bike Share Program for students to use. There would be a semester cost and you could rent the bike when you needed it to run errands, get to class etc. I'm currently working with PJ Capadonna, the Parking and Transportation Manager and hopefully we will have something by the late fall or definitely Spring semester. Keep on the lookout for more information, but I think this is a really cool project and something that was on our platform.

GPS- This has been talked about for awhile now but it looks like this will be live by mid to late August. Keep checking back for more updates and check your email in August for more information. If you want to see how it works check out Harvard's GPS system which utilizes the same company, Transloc.

Zipcar- How many people here use Zipcar? Well thats the million dollar question we are trying to figure out. There is a new competitor to ZipCar- HertzConnect, and they can allow people who are 18 and over to use their cars as opposed to ZipCar which is 21 and over. We are working with Parking and Transportation to solidify a vendor, but if you have any preference or questions please let me know.

That's all I have for now. Let me know if you have any questions

Enjoy your weekend,

-Al

Another Update

Hi Folks

I’m on vacation at home this week about I decided to give an update on what I’ve been working on. There are some cool things in the work that I could use your input from so if you have any suggestions please feel free to e-mail me or contact me.

 

 

Programming

If you haven’t taken the UGBC Programming Survey please do so when you get a moment. This will give us a better indication of the types of programs to put on throughout the course of this year and by filling it out you have the opportunity to win free tickets to Homecoming.

 

Additionally, we are in the process of trying to plan our fall concert. We have a few ideas in mind but any other suggestions would be welcomed with open arms.

 

Dining Services

Boston College Dining Services is one of the most student-friendly organizations on campus. They are always trying to solicit student feedback and ideas and are very receptive to student interests. They are considering a pizza delivery type program that would debut in the fall.  They have spoken to me and are wondering if I had any ideas as to how to setup the program up, what hours would students want, how would they want it to be (delivery, pickup, both, etc) so if you have any suggestions please let me know as I would love to pass them along.

 

Advising

As Alex and I mentioned during our campaign over and over again, one of our big agenda items for this year will be to improve the current advising system at Boston College. Through our conversations with students this seems to be one of the biggest concerns and issues that students want us to address. Currently, I am putting together a report that evaluates the advising program at Boston College, the strengths and weaknesses of it and recommendations that can be done to strengthen the program. This report will rely heavily on student input, so if you have some please feel free to contact me so I can ensure that your voice is heard. I hope to share this report with Administrators and look for ways to improve some of the weaknesses of the advising program here at Boston College.

 

That should be it for now. I have a ton of other small projects on the docket but these are some of the bigger ones worth mentioning. As always, please feel free to contact me with your questions.

 

Cheers,

 

-Al

Update from the work of the Boston College Office of Parking and Transportation

Hi Folks-

I just wanted to give a quick update on the hard work of the BC Office of Parking and Transportation.

GPS

For the past few years many students have requested that a GPS be installed on Shuttle buses that are used at BC. With the help of UGBC as well as many students the Office of Parking and Transportation is following through on that request. With our fingers crossed and barring any major technological difficulties it looks like we will see a GPS system this fall in our shuttle buses. We are currently in the process of finalizing a vendor and installing the technology to make it happen. If all goes well, you will be able to view where the bus is on your mobile phone's internet browser or via your computer with an internet connection. Keep checking for update information, but we hope that it will be up and running in the fall.

Discounted "T" Passes

Many students at Boston College utilize the MBTA's "T" (Trolley) to get into Boston, internships, jobs, practicums etc. The Office of Parking and Transportation has worked with the MBTA to offer an 11% discount on T passes. If you are interested in purchasing a pass please check out the link below. The due date to purchase a pass for the fall semester is August 5th 2009.

http://www.bc.edu/offices/stserv/mbta.html

Bike Share Program

One of our platform items for this year was to attempt to implement a Bike Share program where students could rent bikes on campus. Through working with the Office of Parking and Transportation we are in the process of trying to finalize this program and idea. Last semester we were able to get a pretty solid response that there was a need for a program like this but we would love to hear your feedback. The idea in mind is to start out with a smaller pilot program then look to expand as it grows. If you have any ideas or feedback on this please let me know.

So these are the latest developments from the Office of Parking and Transportation. They are a bunch of really hard working people up there who really want to make the lives of students easier. We're proud of our working relationship with this office and we hope to have even better and more successful ideas in the future.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns I'd love to hear them!

Take care,

-Al