I think this is a great idea. Why have such a nice attraction if it is going to look so nasty?

Is it just me or is the video not working? I hope you guys can get it working soon.

And yeah, love this idea.

Funds from the SGA which come from the Student ACTIVITY Fee should not go to maintaining or repairing the campus. The finalist proposals for the Ropes Course, Creative Center, or Green Space are the only proposals that make sense to be a project financed by the SGA. I would suggest the SGA to use this proposal to have the university properly maintain the pond.

Yeah but maybe if it was actually clean we could have activities there.

Yeah but maybe if it was actually clean and nice to be around we could have ACTIVITIES there.

I agree that whoever is responsible for the pond (facilities?) should already be working on it. I have seen them working on it before too. I would also assume that there are plans to help the pond in the "Master Plan"? Still I feel that students shouldn't have to give up their activities fees for this. I think this argument also applies to the "Green Space" idea.

And in response to James, I don't understand how improving the "Study Place" would not be in the interests of SGA. You did not mention it. After all, they were the ones involved with first implementing the idea.

Ian

I agree with James. I think that through volunteer efforts from the students and discussions with the grounds crew the pond could be maintained in good condition year round. I would love to be part of a group that helps to clean the pond pro-actively!

I like the idea of more tables around the pond, but I don't see tables there ever being filled. I think the people that want to use the pond are using the pond, and I'm not sure if more people would come out in the future. Also, no matter what the place looks like cold, rain, and wind will keep people inside.

In response to Ian Harris, I think the Study Place idea is good but the Student Activity Fee should not be going to start-up costs for teh companies. Construction is often included in contracts with vendors. See my post on the Study Place proposal blog for more information.

I think this a great idea. I would be more willing to sit by the pond, if it wasn't a smelly unmaintained area. It would be nice if we had a deck area to just kick back and relax.
Also by adding maybe a better water filtering system, it would be a better place to relax and enjoy the spring semester especially near finals.

I understand what you are saying James. Originally we had planned to redo the floors. This was before dining services got involved. They are already covering costs of installing and maintaining the new restaurants. I think we will be able to reduce a construction costs more, as I said on the Study Place post.

Ian

How much of the pond have you guys actually planned and how much is still in the air? The idea of taking submissions from students just seems kind of strange, like you're holding your own derivative "imProve the Pond" contest, but with less money available than if you had just submitted a competing pond proposal in the first place.

@Mike:

"I think that through volunteer efforts from the students and discussions with the grounds crew the pond could be maintained in good condition year round. "

There are students that do it every so often. I know their Greeks, I don't know which ones (Pi Kapps?). They were also out there a few days ago, and before that a few weeks ago.

This idea would give students a place to hangout outside, which is needed. We currently have areas outside the commons and the UC, but I think an area near the water would be nice.

I do not think that improving the pond is a good use of the the student fee. As awesome as a pretty, clean pond would be the money should come out of the facilities budget, as many others have stated. As a student here, I already pay too many fees that I will never see the outcome for, and I'd rather not have one more.

On another note, I know several students who actually appreciate the pond for it's algae and what most of us call "ick". They like seeing a pond in it's more "natural" setting. To them, it's more about the health of the pond as opposed to the beauty to us.

Our idea is for the future of our campus. My group is made up of freshmen, and just like you we all walked past that pond to undergraduate admissions and had to smell it and bare with it over the summer. I can't imagine anyone liking that smell. Also the pond isn't in a natural setting, because it's man made and we already dump chemicals in there to clean it. Our idea uses eco-friendly solutions such as solar powered sonic filters that safely clean the water without any chemicals or undue side effects. As for using your fees, the SGA already has the money and you won't be paying any more fees for this. And Facilities Management has wanted this done for a long time but does not have the support or the budget to do it. This will improve our campus, which is the goal of the imProve It! Campaign.

Asking for your landscaping ideas is just a way to incorporate the campus as a whole into our proposal. We've already established how to clean the pond and much of the landscaping aspects, but I'm sure many people on campus have views on how to make the pond look better. These ideas are important to us because we want to give this campus something that has your support and input so we have something that benefits everyone.

How does this help in the winter time? UMBC is the busiest in winter months when the pond is going to look rotten no matter what you do to it. Plus it is cold outside so people will not be hanging out there anyway. So what is really being proposed is something that will only be seen in the summer time and I have never even noticed an extremely bad smell from it in the first place. This is being exaggerated. The algae problem has already been fixed. If facilities does not have the budget to fix it, then they should have some money allocated to it from the University.

The UMBC pond is not an appropriate project to spend student funds on. I wouldn't mind if the general university funds for maintenance and upkeep were used to enhance the pond. Please put the prove it funding towards something else. My top picks are 1. student creative center, and 2. study place in that order. Pond and green space are at the bottom in no particular order. With the ropes course as something I would never use nor benefit from, but I can see how other students might.

I'm glad this project was considered, but I don't think it is a responsible use of money meant to improve students lives.

The UMBC pond is not an appropriate project to spend student funds on. I wouldn't mind if the general university funds for maintenance and upkeep were used to enhance the pond. Please put the prove it funding towards something else. My top picks are 1. student creative center, and 2. study place in that order. Pond and green space are at the bottom in no particular order. With the ropes course as something I would never use nor benefit from, but I can see how other students might.

I'm glad this project was considered, but I don't think it is a responsible use of money meant to improve students lives.

Honestly I think this or the Green Space idea are at the top, in terms of how usable or practical the ideas are. The rope course seems like a playground, and honestly I don't think that is what this campus needs. With regards to the Student Creative Center and Study Place, I believe that both of these ideas, while great on paper, present a number of problems in that there are already a great number of places on campus for people to hang out and study... its merely that most students haven't found them yet. For example, there are study lounges in most of the dorms that are never in use. Now the argument that the outdoor ideas are only usable during pleasant weather is worth regarding, however, there are plenty of days even during the dead of winter where it would be nice to have one more place to be outside. Besides, Erikson field is often being used by athletics, and the area to the East of the commons is normally overrun. As such, I believe this campus could use one more place for people to study and relax, which is provided by either the pond, or the green space idea.

If you believe that the campus needs another place for people to study and relax then you should support he study place. I cannot see people sitting on a pond in the winter time trying to study.

The only problem I have with this project is that UMBC should have done this on their own anyway. Keeping up the pond shouldn't take a massive effort by students - it should be done as regular grounds maintenance. The project picked should be a major change that will improve the image of UMBC in general. By using this money on what should be a grounds keeping task I think we are missing out on the greater potential.

Ian how many times are you going to write on this wall seriously its ridiculous, "not an appropriate use of student funds" the idea was to IMPROVE the campus thats what this project is about. Your supporting a campaign that will benefit the small percentage of people on this campus with enough free time to do arts and crafts and play with clay.

Hi, I thank you to those of you who are honest in giving feedback. As I read this board I see that people from other Prove-it groups are attempting to take away from idea with repetitive arguments. In response to Ian Harris, who just happens to be a fellow finalist, it is our goal to improve the campus and it is clear that our proposition is not a poor allocation of funds for we are finalists too. Furthermore your argument more clearly applies to your idea. Building more places to eat is a project that should come out of the schools budget in response to a greater demand. But without a greater demand for places to eat I will end with this, Our group doesn't condone the use of traducement to gain support therefore we stand by our idea and believe the campus will follow.

I also agree that UMBC should be taking care of the pond without imProve It funds, which seem like they should be used for an idea that needs outside project funds. I'm only outside when it's nice out, which is pretty much September and May. Between those months I stay inside to do my work. UMBC has a Science 100: Interdisciplinary Study of Water (I took it), why doesn't Science and UMBC work something out that integrates pond maintenance in the class plan? Or an environmental science class? They'd actually be applying what they're learning?

I agree that this project has validity.

I would personally like to see the fountains working, since they only seem to be for the first month of school each year. Maybe heated in the winter so the pond doesn't freeze?

questions, though ... will you keep the sewage still running into the pond or have a tunnel leading that sewage elsewhere?

p.s. are you thinking what i'm thinking?? rope swing!! holllllaaaaaa

@ Anonymous

Yeah, I did post a lot haha. Anyway, I think you might be confused because while I don't dislike the Creative Center proposal, I am definitely supporting the Study Place idea which I helped to write. I think it is clear that the Study Place will directly benefit the most people.

@ Jake

I don't believe that I did, nor did I mean to make any false accusations or speak poorly of your idea. Obviously you guys have done a lot of work to get here. I was simply trying to raise what I believe is an important issue, that still hasn't been addressed. It seems that several others have the same concern.

I agree with you that funding for new dining options should not come from student fees. However, if you read our plan, you would know that the costs for this portion of our project would be covered by dining services. The demand for more, better and new dining options is clear based on student feedback and our plan will address those concerns.

The issues of where the funds should come from for cleaning up the pond and when the pond would be used have been brought up several times and I just want to briefly address these issues and hopefully answer questions and clear up some of the confusion.

Facilities Management is responsible for the maintenance of the pond. There have been several proposals from various Facilities Management staff members over the past few years that aim at cleaning the pond, however none of these proposals have been approved by the administration because of budget constraints. Facilities Management has only been able to do the bare minimum to clean the pond, which includes using chemicals to alleviate any unbareable problems. While these solutions work in the short term, they do not help in the long run. Our proposal incorporates more natural methods of cleaning the pond inorder to make sure that the effects are lasting and that it is easier to maintain the pond. Our group has spoken to various people in Facilities Management who support our proposal.

Also, while cleaning the pond is a major goal of our proposal, we also want to landscape the area around the pond and provide more seating. These are issues that have also been brought up within Facilities Management, but are definitely not going to be dealt with by the administration any time soon, again because of budget constraints.

I also believe that if the pond were a more attractive area it would be used more than just september and may. The weather is usually decent through october and is already starting to get nicer in march. Keep in mind that many student choose to take summer classes and would get use out of the area while on campus over the summer. Summer is also when many prospective students visit schools and when orientations are held for new students. In addition to students being able to use the area for studying, eating, or just hanging out with friends, we would also be able to different events in that area because it would be a nice outdoor location on campus.

As Nikunj said before, we appreciate all of the support, questions, and criticism. We want to hear from as many people as possible so that we can create something that benefits our entire campus community. Sorry for the long post!

This is truly an excellent idea. I have always thought that the pond has potential to be a beautiful area that could be enjoyed by all students- and this project would make that possible. This is a common area that almost every student passes by on a daily basis. I think this project should win!

Ponds smell...You're not going to change that without chemically treating the water on a regular basis. Tests have shown that the water in the pond IS CLEAN already. The amount of plant life in and around the pond is a clear indicator that the environment is THRIVING. The only problem with the pond now is that it's being filled with runoff (including trash, posters, packing peanuts, etc.) from all over campus.

Furthermore, while the Koi living in the pond are beautiful fish, they are one of the most harmful fish species to an environment. They are notorious for consuming all nutrients in the water they live in, as well as producing waste that can make the water unsuitable for drinking by animals.

Ponds smell...You're not going to change that without chemically treating the water on a regular basis. Tests have shown that the water in the pond IS CLEAN already. The amount of plant life in and around the pond is a clear indicator that the environment is THRIVING. The only problem with the pond now is that it's being filled with runoff (including trash, posters, packing peanuts, etc.) from all over campus.

Furthermore, while the Koi living in the pond are beautiful fish, they are one of the most harmful fish species to an environment. They are notorious for consuming all nutrients in the water they live in, as well as producing waste that can make the water unsuitable for drinking by animals.

Ponds smell...You're not going to change that without chemically treating the water on a regular basis. Tests have shown that the water in the pond IS CLEAN already. The amount of plant life in and around the pond is a clear indicator that the environment is THRIVING. The only problem with the pond now is that it's being filled with runoff (including trash, posters, packing peanuts, etc.) from all over campus.

Furthermore, while the Koi living in the pond are beautiful fish, they are one of the most harmful fish species to an environment. They are notorious for consuming all nutrients in the water they live in, as well as producing waste that can make the water unsuitable for drinking by animals.