This is a column that I wrote for an old independent newspaper (Tower District News). We did not have a World Wide Web or blogs in those days, but we had developed an alphabet and a crude written language.

I'm using this to remind folks of the Fulton Mall walks this Saturday morning from 9:00 - noon. Meet at Fagan's at 9:00 to walk north on the Mall with Joyce Aiken and Friends. The second half of the walk will begin at 10:30, in front of the Warnor's Theater (Fulton and Tuolumne) and then continue back south on the walk, with yours truly.

The article is rather simple and naïve, but heck, I was only 28 when I wrote it. It's also a reminder that we've been having these Fulton Mall conversations for a very long time!

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The Board of Regents of the University of California have chosen Central California as the next location to site a campus. I believe that this campus should be urban, with proximity to population and city services. In fact, I'll be even more specific, I think it should be located on the Fulton Mall.

The next U.C. campus should be designed and located in a way which demonstrates our desire to conserve our regions' resources. Our land, air, and water must be given the highest consideration when choosing a location.
Any site which induces growth away from the population center of the valley will only add to our pollution and traffic congestion problems. A sprawling 1,200 to 2,000 acre campus will require extensive landscaping which further exhausts our water supply, not to mention the encroachment on either open space or agricultural land.

What could be a better symbol of our concern for our resources than to develop an urban campus? The Regents could create a campus where students could walk to classes, work and entertainment. Mass transit and transportation could link the campus to the city and the state. We often speak of recycling as a goal, shouldn't we first consider the recycling and restoration of older buildings before we build new?

Urban campuses are not a new concept, they exist all over Europe and America. Boulder Colorado even has one next to their pedestrian mall, which has made the University and the mall both very successful.

Imagine being a student, waking up in your dorm room in the remodeled Fresno Hotel. You walk down the mall to the former Gottschalks building, which is now the cafeteria, where you enjoy breakfast and the newspaper. Your classes are held in the PG&E Building (now the Trade Center) which is now the research and technology hall. The Mall connects student housing, classes and administration.

After class activities include: nearby theaters, which house live performances and film; a museum,; or a three-minute ride to the Tower District's many shops and restaurants.

The use of our existing resources will say more to these students about what our future will be, than any new sprawling subdivision-like campus could. A campus should add life to a city, not only draw life from it.

Maybe someday the students and faculty will be grateful that we were unsuccessful at putting City Hall in the Fulton Mall's older buildings, because it left an opportunity for the U.C.F.M the University of California on the Fulton Mall.