The GX Listserv The GX list provides information you need during the "Great Excavations 2" project at the Johns Hopkins Homewood campus. Today is Thursday, May 9. Today's GX includes:
1. We're back.... 1. We're back.... It's a summer of sequels: Star Wars Episode 2. Men in Black II. Austin Powers: Goldmember. And the biggest blockbuster of all, Great Excavations 2. Yes, GX is back this summer, and so is the GX listserv. We'll provide frequent updates, with everything you need to know about the project: what's happening and why; where you can walk and where you can't; when the jackhammers and backhoes arrive and when, mercifully, they leave. If you subscribed to this list just this spring, after reading about GX2 in the Gazette or online, then welcome aboard! If you're a veteran of the list, and of the initial GX project in the summers of 2000 and 2001, then welcome back. We hope you'll stay! But if you're no longer at Homewood or want to leave the list for some other reason, please see the instructions at the bottom of this message. 2. What's it all about? GX2 extends the philosophy and general design theme of the original GX to a new area of campus. The philosophy: Make the core areas of Homewood safer, more pedestrian-friendly and much more attractive. Accomplish this by diverting car and truck traffic to the perimeter of campus, away from the greatest concentrations of students, faculty and staff on foot. No more admissions tours interrupted by Pepsi trucks. Reduced chances for car-bike or car-pedestrian collisions. More greenery; more serenity. In general, the idea is to make Homewood more like a campus and less like a freeway. The design theme: Echo the campus architecture; rip out ugly bands of asphalt. Replace them with brick. Add marble accents atop walls and similar features. Add lots of grass, trees and shrubs. The area: The GX2 work will focus on an area from the nearly complete Hodson Hall eastward between Levering and Garland Halls to Latrobe, and north from there past Levering and the Glass Pavilion to Gilman. 3. What will it look like? You can get a good idea by calling up this artist's rendering: www.jhu.edu/gx/info/render.html. Nice, huh? 4. What's the long-term schedule? In general, here's the timetable: Some light prep work has already begun and more will be under way soon (details in item 5 below). The heavy work gets going right after commencement, around Memorial Day. By the beginning of fall semester, the area from Hodson to Latrobe will be finished; Hodson will open for its first classes at the same time. The northern portion of the site, from Latrobe to Gilman, will be completed in October. 5. What's the short-term schedule? GX2 has already started! This week, contractors built a temporary ramp to provide access by the disabled into Latrobe Hall. That ramp is on the north end of the building, facing Ames. Why build that? Because the current handicapped ramp has to replaced as part of the project. As soon as exams are over -- May 17 -- a fence will go up around the existing ramp. [See "fence #1" north of Latrobe on the map at www.jhu.edu/gx/info/phase2.html. Demolition will begin. At about the same time -- May 17 -- "fence #2" [see the same map] goes up at the southwest corner of Gilman Hall. This will prevent anyone from using the cut-through that goes between Gilman and the Glass Pavilion en route to Decker Gardens or the Johns Hopkins Club. Site preparation work will be going on in that zone. Immediately after commencement, fences 1 and 2 come down. But that's only because the far more extensive fence #3 [see map] will be going up around the entire construction area. Heavy equipment will be grading the site, digging trenches for storm water drains and electrical conduit and generally making a mess. As you can see from the map, we all will be taking major detours all summer long. The only entrance to Garland will be from the south (a temporary ramp will be installed for the disabled). The only access to Levering will be from the northwest corner of the Glass Pavilion. For at least part of the summer, we'll have to walk clear around the back of Hodson Hall to get from the only open Garland entrance to the only open Levering entrance. Sometime in July, the route will get shorter when the sidewalk in front of Hodson is complete. One correction to what you see in the online map: It would appear that fence #3 will block off the disabled entry door at the north end of Barton. In fact, the fence will be set back far enough that the door will remain open. 6. Shipping and receiving The GX2 project will require major changes for vendors, contractors and shipping companies like FedEx and UPS: where they make deliveries, when they can make them and in what trucks. Purchasing has already notified about 800 companies that come to campus from time to time. But you can help. Look at the memo at www.jhu.edu/gx/info/deliver.html. See where deliveries to your office or department fit in. And make sure that the vendors you deal with are up to speed on the new policy. If you have questions, contact Judy Zimmer in Purchasing Services at 410-516-8383. 7. What's it all about? Part II There's a lot more happening on campus this summer outside the GX2 zone. A new campus sign system and computer-driven wayfinding kiosks will be installed. Construction will start on a new chemistry building. And later on, during the fall semester, work will get under way on a new office/parking complex on the west side of San Martin Drive. Though these projects are, strictly speaking, outside the scope of GX2, this listserv will tell you what's happening, why and how it will affect you. Stay tuned! 8. Subscribing and unsubscribing Please let others who may be interested know about this list. Here's how they can subscribe: Send an e-mail message to: listproc@listproc.hcf.jhu.eduLeave the subject line blank. The text of the message should be:
subscribe gx Subscriber's NameThe message should be sent from the account to which the subscriber wants GX messages sent. Some members of this list will need to unsubscribe, either temporarily or permanently, as they take vacations or leave campus for the summer. To unsubscribe, please send an e-mail message to:
ListProc@listproc.hcf.jhu.eduLeave the subject line blank. In the body of the message, type the command:
unsubscribe GXWe urge in particular that you unsubscribe if -- while you are on vacation or away for any other reason -- you intend to set your e-mail account to block or automatically reply to incoming mail. You may resubscribe when you return.
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