Echo February 24, 2006

              Augsburg College ^^m
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restaurants
on a budget
Variety, page 8
HCHO
Friday, February 24, 2006
The College's Student-Produced Newspaper   Sports, page 4   <^^YVf
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Minneapolis, Minnesota
Volume CXI I, Issue- 15
Cedar-Riverside's
safety addressed
byWBCC
Anders Hopkins
Staff Writers
The West Bank Community
Coalition and the West Bank Community Development Corporation
have proposed a new strategy,
won an approval, and initiated
the first-step of the Neighborhood
Revitalization Program.
Increasing lighting and installing "Safe-Zone" cameras
in Cedar-Riverside are just two
projects that may be completed
with the initial first-step funds of
$450,000 received from the NRP.
On Feb. 21, the WBCC took
new action for the NRP approval.
The organization set-up five specialized groups to begin work on
formal budget drafts and hired
staff, solidifying its role as a strong
non-profit.
In late March, it aims to hold
a community vote to move the proposed budget drafts into action.
The largest amount of money
will go to home improvement,
ownership loans and grants programs.
The other two largest amounts,
besides those allotted for staff and
resources, are tentatively given
toward increasing the lighting and
safety at the Cedar-Riverside light-
rail station and the installation of
"Safe-Zone" cameras.
Safety in Augsburg's urban
college setting seems to be the biggest concern of many students.
The theory behind the cameras
is that in certain areas, a permanent
camera presence would be erected
that would be routinely monitored
by a Minneapolis police officer.
However, the cameras would
not necessarily be expected to
thwart crime. Instead they would
be used for prosecution or for
gathering information.
Cam Gordon. Cedar-Riverside's city representative, said he
wasn't opposed to the idea but
would promote it only if the community were behind it.
Sophomore Anna Baker was
quick to point out, "I think it
wouldn't do much. It's a matter
of covering up what you're doing. If there is no one physically
close, [the Minneapolis Police
Department] won't be able to do
anything."
In discussing the possibility
of cameras, John Pack, director of
public safety, said that in combination with other security measures,
cameras can be effective.
"No one thing by itself will
ever make a community safer," he
said. The real question is ... 'Will
they work in conjunction with
things?'"
"I think the answer is yes," he
said in terms of Cedar-Riverside.
He also said that areas that
currently have cameras have had
cases in which cameras were effectively used with other security
Continued on page 2
Facilities Managment
ements water
conservation plan
Jenessa Stark
News Editor
The Department of Facilities Management completed a
$ 123,500 water conservation project two weeks ago that is projected
to save the College $41,000 a year
in water bills.
The project incorporated new
attachments for sinks, shower
heads and toilets that will save
anywhere from a half gallon to
over a gallon of water per minute,
depending on the fixture.
The roughly two-week project
replaced old plumbing hardware
with newer, more efficient hardware in Urness Hall, Mortensen
Hall, New Hall, Sverdrup, Science Hall, Si-Melby, the Lindell
Library, Christensen Center, Old
Main and Memorial.
HydraMetrics, a company that
promotes the efficient use of water
by replacing old water usage fixtures with more efficient "variable
flow technology," was contracted
to implement the steps in the water
conservation project.
"HydraMetrics has come
up with a process to reengineer
water fixtures in such a way that
you should not see any degradation in the operation of the unit,"
Director of Facilities Management
David Draus said. "[The Augsburg
community] shouldn't see a difference."
Students, however, gave the
new plumbing fixtures mixed reviews.
"The pressure of the water is
much worse," Mortensen Hall resident Trine Thorbjornsen said. "It is
a lot harder to wash my hair."
First-year Ashley Hight-
ower who lives in Urness Hall
disagreed.
"I think the new showerheads
are nice and strong," she said.
A similar project was completed on a trial basis in Anderson
Hall a few years ago. Facilities
Management hoped that the payback on the project, that is the time
it would take to save the money
they spent, would be three years.
However, the Anderson project was so successful, Draus said,
that they decided to do the whole
campus as soon as possible.
This year's project will be paid
for by $25,000 from the College's
minor renovations budget, and the
rest will be drawn from the utilities
budget. The expected payback on
the project is three years.
Kitchen and bathroom sinks
in Urness and Mortensen Halls,
as well as public restroom sinks
throughout campus, received new
aerators (attachments that change
the flow of the water and combine
it with more air to conserve water).
The amount of water flow
per minute was also drastically
reduced across campus.
As a result of the new hardware, the water flow of the kitchen
sinks in Mortensen Hall was
changed from two-and-a-half to
one-and-a-half gallons of water
per minute. The Urness Hall rest-
room sinks were also changed to
accommodate one gallon of water
per minute instead of the previous
two-and-a-half gallons.
Similarily, public restroom
sinks were scaled down to a half
gallon of water per minute since
they are low traffic areas.
"They aren't going in there
to brush their teeth and wash their
hair," Facilities Management Employee James Brost said. "They're
going in there to wash their hands.
They are in and out."
Showerheads in the dormitories were replaced and changed the
water flow from two-and-a-half
gallons of water per minute down
Continued on page 2
Gospel Praise group tours the Southwest
Kari Aanestad
Variety Editor
T> ler Likkel
Miranda Nelson, Colin Stephenson and Meghan Sherer provide
vocals during a Gospel Praise pre-tour rehearsal.
Augsburg's musical ensemble, Gospel Praise, had an intense
weekend performing four times
in three days, including a performance at a Minneapolis conference followed by a three-day
tour in Arizona. Gospel Praise is
an Augsburg musical ensemble
composed of a jazz band and vocal
performers.
The Minnesota Music Educators Association chose Augsburg's
Gospel Praise to perform at the
annual conference in Minneapolis
last Friday. MMEA is a musical organization that claims over 2,000
members statewide.
Music professionals gather annually to share new tools and techniques, feature chosen ensembles,
and celebrate music. According
to Robert Stacke, director of the
ensemble, over 80 groups applied
to be featured at the conference,
and MMEA chose Gospel Praise
to be one of the featured groups.
"It's basically the equivalent
of submitting an academic paper
and having it accepted for presentation," Stacke said. The group
produced an audition tape and
submitted it to MMEA earlier this
year.
Gospel Praise performed at
the MMEA convention on Feb. 17
in Minneapolis.
The group boarded a plane two
hours after the convention and flew
to Arizona. The members stayed
for three days and performed
three times at two churches. Our
Saviour's Lutheran Church in Tucson was the first church to host the
group in Arizona. The group also
performed at Bethlehem Lutheran
Church in Phoenix.
Augsburg College President
William Frame accompanied the
group on the tour to Arizona.
Frame plays the guitar and is
often featured during "Will the
Circle Be Unbroken" and "I Saw
the Light." According to Stacke,
Frame played with the group approximately 10 times last year.
"He's pretty much an adopted
member," first-year member of
Gospel Praise Jason Koele said.
The tour to Arizona unofficially honored Frame's many
years of service to the Augsburg
community.
Gospel Praise has 26 student
members. It's an auditioned group
that performs various genre of
music, exploring elements beyond
those of the traditional choral or
band music.
"We try to do music that
crosses all eras of jazz and world
music. It promotes a curriculum
that's cross-culture, which really
reflects Augsburg's theme of diversity," said Stacke.
Eighteen members play instruments in the jazz ensemble,
and the remaining eight are vocal
performers.
"The crowds usually like it a
lot when we have singers," Koele
said.
The group has 27 scheduled
performances this semester including the tour in Arizona. Gospel
Praise will be performing a spring
concert on Mar. 28 at 7 p.m. in
Hoversten Chapel.
For more information regarding upcoming performances by
Gospel Praise, contact Robert
Stacke (stackedaugsburg.edu).