By Tristan Cassel,
Editor-in-Chief

When residents of CSUCI’s Anacapa moved into their dorms this Fall, they were surprised to find that there were no longer laundry machines on the second and third floors of their buildings.

There were now only 8 machines in the various buildings first floors – four washers and four dryers.

For a residence where laundry-time was already valuable, the change has caused somewhat of a traffic jam among residents.

“The laundry room is always filled, even at 8 a.m.,” said Anacapa resident Henry Morales.

To add insult to injury, the one laundry room is not open twenty-four hours a day; unlike the large laundry area in Santa Cruz, where freshman and sophomore residents reside.

Despite the loss in amenities, Anacapa dwellers haven’t seen a reduction in housing costs, and are understandably annoyed and upset at the situation.

Although laundry facilities were removed, residents were informed that they would be able to use the rooms for something they collectively wanted, and surveys were given out at floor meetings.

“Housing told us to brainstorm with our floor for ideas, and that they’d pick the best one and implement it,” confirmed A3 Resident Assistant Tyderyon Neal.

The residents of A3 found out differently however, when they discovered that their old laundry room had been converted for summer conference storage.

One resident, who asked not to be identified said of the situation:

“Another unfulfilled promise. Why should I be surprised? It is Housing after all.”

When contacted about the loss of laundry rooms and their available hours,  Housing gave no clear answers as to why.

Spokesperson Laurita Franklin gave more than one reason for taking them away, including “needing storage space,” and “possibly turning them into bedrooms due to housing being at overcapacity.”

When asked about why the remaining rooms weren’t open twenty-four hours, Franklin said there were “…no plans. We’ve received no requests to make the rooms available 24 hours and students who live in adjoining rooms would complain about the noise.”

She also informed the View that housing would try to clarify their reasons as to why, and the next day left a voicemail requesting a call back. As of the writing of this article, subsequent calls have not yet been returned.

Residents from adjoining rooms had different opinions about the laundry room noise.

Sandy Perez, who lives next to the laundry room in A building says:

“I love living next to the laundry room, it’s so convenient! I don’t even hear it. Plus sometimes it smells like laundry and that’s great.”

When asked if the noise or vibrations bothered him, Cassidy Fletcher, who lives in the adjoining room of C building said:

“Not in the slightest. Periodically it smells like purple because someone uses grape-scented laundry sheets.”

In the mean-time it looks like students will have to keep vying for that all-important laundry machine whenever they can get it.