-J
iiesday • January 17, 1995
HTHE T^ATTALIOlSf
s ss s *•'■ v. . s n s-.-. %sx■• %• <*.s^' A
Jnderground slated to open next
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The Battalion • Page 7
y Wes Swift
he Battalion
Food Service officials overseeing the
nal touches to the new Underground
ood Court expect it to be finished in
meior a February opening.
Peggy Gideon, the food services man
ner who will oversee the operation of
he food court, said everything is on
fhedule to open sometime next month.
“Were supposed to take the build-
Jig over Feb. 5,” Gideon said. “There’s
tentative date of Feb. 13 for the soft
Jpening and Feb. 20 for the
| grand opening.”
Originally slated to open in Fall
994, food services delayed the food
wrt’s opening because of unexpected
tructural problems that were discov-
red under Sbisa Dining Hall. Dr.
onald Beard, interim executive direc-
jr of the food services department,
aid that several problems arose from
le fact that Sbisa was such an
[building.
“When you get into an old building,
ou uncover one of the age-old things
Id buildings run into: asbestos,” Beard
i aid. “That caused delay because of
bntinued from Page 1
asbestos abatement.”
Beard said the food court also had to
be brought up to building codes and
American Disability Act requirements.
The wheelchair route had to be rebuilt,
along with another entrance to Hogg
street and additional emergency exits, all
without disturbing the grand appearance
of Sbisa dining hall. A sprinkler system
was added, forcing the Underground
Market, which was originally planned to
stay open, to close temporarily.
“We thought we could accomplish
some of the demolition, like putting in
the sprinkler system without closing it,”
Beard said. “When the construction peo
ple came in and saw that we intended to
keep the market open, they said ‘How
can we put the sprinkler system in?”’
The food court will contain four
restaurant franchises owned and oper
ated by Food Services, as well as the
Underground Market.
Whataburger, Taco Bueno and
Chick-Fil-a will be included. Pizza Hut
was originally included, but was re
placed with Alonti Deli when problems
arose over who would manage the fran
chise. Food services required control
over management of all the franchises.
“We [Food Services] have been on
this campus feeding Aggies for a hun
dred years. We feel we do a good job,”
Beard said. “We feel like we have ex
ceptional managers.”
Gideon said food service managers
currently are being sent to the various
franchise training schools to learn how
to manage the restaurants. Each will
have a limited menu recommended by
the restaurants, but will have space to
sell new items that the restaurants of
fer off-campus.
“We’re going to offer about the same
menu as other universities,” Gideon said.
Like other restaurants on campus,
the food court will be manned by stu
dent employees. Beard said food ser
vices will begin advertising for applica
tions in the next few weeks. Employees
will be trained not only by food service
managers, but also by training groups
sent by the restaurants chains.
“We’re going to hire as many student
employees as we can,” Gideon said. “We
need a lot of them.”
The restaurants will receive six to
nine percent of the gross sales in return
for the use of their names, Beard said.
Gideon said the private franchises have
been great itfid' havt; I
cooperated very iftiell I
with the food ^feryicds' ■
officials. ' iv \.,l "
“You cah’tbe4ieve~
how nice thq&’^rg. all
been,” (3 i dte'dh saYd %
“It’s going "'ve^
smoothly.” -
Hours hstye alnea , r
been set for all of the-
restaurants^' •
Alonti Deli will be
open from 7:30 a.Ift. tb
9 p. m. All ; othet
restaurants will be
open from 10 a.rh. to 9
p.m. Monday threugh
Friday and lO- a.in. to
8 p.m. on Saturday.
Beard said he - is
ready to see the fobd 1
court open.
“We are very, anx
ious to get the fodd
court open,.” Beard
said. “Evei^y person
has worked beydnd
a n y o A e ’ a Robert Milford, a worker for Britt Rice Electric works on
imagination/ • the Underground Monday.
Nick Rodnicki/THt Battalion
Continued from Page 1
unding: Officials differ in opinions Gramm: Budget requires hard work
ion until the press pub-
shed stories linking the
Jniversity with the pro-
Bct,” the audit said.
I ' Phis breakdown in con-
j rols cost the University
j noney and media atten-
, ion, causing embarrass-
1 nentand ridicule.”
The audit’s final re-
iort commends the
current management
; if A&M for their ef-
orts to correct the
:auses of the problems.
“During our work
ve noted areas where
he new leadership
earn at the System
md University has
aken initiatives to put
nto place control sys-
ems to help create an
mvironment and cul
ture to better allow the
University to achieve
its mission,” the audit
said.
A&M University and
System were put under
new management since
The two largest units
in the University — Fi
nance and Administra
tion and the Provost’s
Office — have new inter
im leaders in place.
Albert Baxter, power
"The breakdown in controls cost
the University money and media
attention, causing embarrassment
and ridicule."
— state audit of A&M system
the problems cited oc
curred, with Bowen be
ing named president in
June and Thompson be
ing named chancellor in
August.
plant superintendent,
and Donald Thompson,
assistant power plant
superintendent, were
placed on administrative
leave, due to the audit’s
poor review of the power
plant’s management.
Thompson said the
new management is
committed to doing
everything in their pow
er to correct the deficien
cies that exist.
“We have already im
plemented many correc
tive actions to restore ac
countability,” Thompson
said. “Power is not in
the hands of so few
presently.”
“The audit was a sig
nificant wake-up call,
but we can say nothing
to apologize for the stu
dents’ and alumni’s posi
tion of public humilia
tion because we didn’t
honor the public trust as
we should have.”
education will be important is
sues in this legislative sessiotr,
but the only way to succeed in
making changes is to cut gov
ernment spending.
“For the next two years, no
working American will see their
taxes go up. We’re not going to
create a single new spending
program over the next two years
unless we cut another program
that exists now by at least an
equal amount.
“We’re going to impose no
new mandates on state govern
ments, county governments or
local governments and we abe
not going to impose new
statutes or regulations on busi
ness,” Gramm said.
According to Gramm, to bah’
ance the federal budget in seven
years, it is necessary to cut only,
nine percent of what Congress is
...
already planning to spend.
Ehmilies and small businesses
across America have demon-
strated-that they can do that
when thotiey is tight, so he feels
thebe is no reason the federal
gbvernment should not be able
To ihAkfe those cuts as well.
The senator admitted that
from Ohe point of view, a bal
anced budget could hurt every
one because fewer federal dol-
labe will be handed out. Howev
er, Gj^afnm said that in the long
runybig: government spending
costs’the American tax payers
fhorethan a balanced budget.
'‘Government over the past 20
years has borrowed over 50
cbfttS from every dollar saved in
. the'American economy, and
that’s 50 cents that did not go to
-riew homes, new farms, new fac-
tobibs-^did not give new eco-
•■i't y t' T: ■ 'irOT < -''•t ■ i
iS S’
nomic growth. Now the econo
my is growing at a much slower
rate that it did in the 1960s and
1970s,” Gramm said.
Gramm also discussed mak
ing some current federal pro
grams and responsibilities the
responsibility of the state and
local governments.
He said that when local gov
ernments are given more con
trol, the costs of federal man
dates are not passed on to the
tax payers.
Bryan Mayor Marvin Tate
agreed that federal mandates
from Washington pushes up
costs and those costs are in turn
passed along to the tax payers.
“I’m a big believer in more lo
cal government. The local peo
ple are looking for the best dis
tribution of the funds that are
available,” Tate said.
‘
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