It must be a sign... A lengthy saga ends with the erection of a new marquee

It seemed like such a simple idea.

Last May, the Student Union found itself in need ofa large, eye-catching sign for the Barn. S.U. decided to ask the Confederation Centre to donate their old, two-sided sign, which was languishing in storage. The Centre happily obliged, and the Student Union began looking for a place to put their new property. That's when the trouble started. In June, a location was chosen: at the end of the Barn, facing University Avenue. A proposal to erect the sign was submitted to the University’s Board Of Governors and to City Council. Meantime, the sign was sent out for repainting and rewiring. Near the end of July, the proposal surfaced in the Council... and was denied.

Says Kent Driscoll, “The Council approved over thirty signs that night, but we were the only sign turned down. | guess they felt it was too ugly for the public to see.”

Undaunted, the S.U. picked a new location in September. The new spot would be visible to the campus but not easily seen from the

highway and so would not need City approval. The University liked the site: Between the library and the Chaplaincy Centre. In October a crane was brought in to put the sign in place. Then a new problem arose. The sign proved too large for the nobly chosen spot. It fit into the gap nicely but it hung out into the walkway. So, the crane moved it back into storage and there it sat.

November came, and with it a new site: in front of the Barn, visible from the campus and the access road but far enough away from the highway not to require City approval. Plans went ahead to erect it, but once again the fickle finger of fate struck the Student Union. This time, it took the form ofa misprinted S.U. logo that was missing trees.. Signcraft, the company that did the faulty logo work, sent out someone to fix the logo. While the fellow worked, November became December.

The painting done and the site chosen, Murphy's law had only to strike in one other area: The interior works of the sign. When

maintenance personnel gave the sign a test run, campus electricians discovered a new problem. Seven hundred dollars of transformers were dripping black goop. This made the sign unfit for use and the Student Union had to wait until replacement parts could be ordered and installed to put the sign up. While they waited, winter came and made the installation a moot point until the snow covering the site melted.

Which brings us up to last Thursday, March 24th, when, amid little fanfare, the sign was finally erected. The site is fine... the painting is great (it even has a little X- press logo on it)... and the electrical systems work. Its stay in sign purgatory is over. Says Kent Driscoll: “Every thursday we discussed the damn sign. Now it’s up, and it works really well. You can see it from orbit.” Does this mean that all the trouble is finally sorted out? Maybe not. An unidentified Student Union member who lives at the University Towers,

just across the road from the sign, reports: “It’s great... likea full moon or something. | can turn off all the lights in my apartment and read by the light of the sign.”

Is the newly erected ad space headed for Apocalypse? We'll report further signs in a later edition.

TRENT DRAKE

Big bus.beats the hunger gap

Local entrepreneur wants to feed UPEI party animals

Picture this -- you are at the Barn, hungry as a bear, and you have absolutely no desire to walk to Subway or Burger King. What do you do? Most of the time, you go hungry. Steve Arnold, assistant coach of the UPE] women’s volleyball team, has an idea.

Steve owns a bus which he would like to make into a mobile fast food restaurant. Last year he surveyed around Charlottetown to see what kind of foods students would like to

Steve feels that since Marriott is not serving the students during functions at the Barn, someone else can.

buy while partying. The results told him that chicken, mexican food, donairs, hamburgers and french fries were the way to go.

Steve has not talked to Marriott, the company that has the rights to all food services on campus. Steve feels that since Marriott is not serving the students during functions at the Barn, someone else can.

But do students want it? Home Ec Junior Aldera Chisholm wonders how useful it actually would be. She eats before she goes to the Barn, or afterwards. She also questions how

convenient it would be: would the food be allowed in the Barn, and if so where in the Barn? If not, who wants to eat outside in the middle of winter?

These are the kinds of things that Steve wants to know. How do students feel about this idea? Do they want to eat while at the Barn?

The idea started when Steve came to the Island and could find no donairs like the ones in Halifax. He loved them and thought that he should open upa restaurant that served Halifax- style donairs. He knew that he couldn't afford to rentor buy space, and he already owned the bus - so the two came together. Steve has gotten permission to sell food in Charlottetown as longas he is on private property, such as the Irving across from the Playhouse.

Steve will be hiring two or three people to help him out with his mobile restaurant. “I can hire students from UPEI.”

All he needs now is permission to do this on campus. “I have not hada negative response yet,” says Steve. Attached is a short survey looking for students’ feelings on these ideas. Steve will also be going around campus in the next two weeks and surveying students for their ideas and comments.

REBECCA MOORE

Food for thought

A visit to the cafeteria

This was supposed to be a scathing expose of Marriott; however, Mr. Richard Stairs, manager of the cafeteria, quickly disarmed us. We were impressed by his candour and innovative ideas as he told us of his potential plans for campus food services. One idea we thought particularly intriguing was the “one card plan.” This would involve changing the present meal card so that it could be used at all food services on campus as well as to do your laundry, shop at the bookstore, photocopy, and withdraw cash. One neat feature would be that it could be linked into the central computer system and used like a pager. When you use your carda message such as “call Bob” would appear on the scanner.

A common complaint about the caf is that the hours just don’t fit around classes

sometimes. For meal card holders who can’t get in for lunch, they can register for the “bag lunch”. The caf makes a bag containing sandwiches, beverage, fruit and dessert. Also, if you are travelling to a maritime university serviced by Marriott (excluding St. Mary's) you can actually use your UPEI meal card. They do appreciate being told in advance.

A lot of people do complain about food quality at Marriott, but like any other caf this depends on personal preference. Personally, we have both had our share of.bad.food and good food here. Lots of you have probably filled out those comment forms, and are probably wondering if Marriott listens. Well, they have to. They are ona five year contract,

A common complaint about the caf is that the hours just don’t fit around classes sometimes.

but there is a clause stating, basically, tha Marriott can be kicked out on their butt wit! only 90 days notice.

We still think prices are high, especially 4 the Pit, but at least some of the money is goin to the students since Marriott pays th university 9%, Apart from that, we have ha a change of heart about Marriott and ar willing to give them a second chance. The seem no more unscroupulous than the averaj student-- and the free meal didn’t hurt eithe JENNIFER CASELEY, ALDERA CHISHOL