Cerritos College held a forum to update community members on updates made to the parking lot, formerly the strawberry field.

The meeting was held on Sept. 17 at 5 p.m. with only three people being able to attend.

Vice President of Business Services Felipe Lopez said that many updates were made, such as adding more security and improving the overall appearance.

Many concerns that Norwalk residents had were the dust that the lot would bring, the need for perimeter screening, the control of excessive light from lamp posts and general repairs.

Lopez said that the forums are organized to update the community on changes made to the lot and to address any additional concerns.

Mel Cortez, Norwalk resident, said that he lives in the immediate area of the parking lot and that most neighbors were upset about the conversion, due to the lack of notice from the college.

He said, “Most of the time I am just my neighbors’ spokesperson because they know I’ll come to the meetings and they’ll ask me questions.”

He said that there was a lot of concerns about issues the lot would bring, such as crime, noise and excessive lights at night.

Lopez spoke about the light issue neighbors had saying, “Lighting was a big one. We agreed to install the vertical shields, which basically, instead of having light spread out, the [shields] make the lights shoot straight down.”

This prevents the light from being a disturbance in the night said Lopez. “1.03 is tenth of what a street light it usually.”

Many of the concerns were addressed and resolved quickly by President Jose Fierro and Lopez, who worked together on the contract with Norm Reeves.

Cortez said that the main question now being asked is how the money from the contract with Norm Reeves is being used.

The money is being used to fund projects and students; Cortez said that he and his neighbors would like to see documentation of this.

Cortez said, “They are going to give us information on how the money is being spent and it’ll be great to see faces I think. I was happy with what was done with the strawberry field, but I know a lot of my neighbors weren’t happy.

“I think if we see faces and documents of the students that were helped by the money they received from the lot, they will feel good about it,” he said.

Lopez made himself available to other community members and said that concerns will be dealt with quickly and to the best of his ability.

He said with a laugh, “If somebody asks, ‘we need you to shut it down,’ obviously, we wouldn’t be able to address that.”

This meeting is held on a quarterly basis said Lopez.

Another community forum will be in December for other community members to come express their concerns.