Residents, officials consider plans for housing project

  Peggy Woo/Daily Bruin

By Melody Wang
Daily Bruin Reporter

Most students believe parking and housing are limited and
over-priced near UCLA, but administrators and Westwood residents
can’t agree on how to tackle the issue.

To reduce campus traffic from commuting students, UCLA wants to
increase university housing for single graduate, professional and
upper division undergraduate students.

The university wants to construct new residential buildings on
Veteran Avenue that will accommodate approximately 2,000 residents.
The construction is scheduled to begin in 2001 and completed by
2008.

Westwood resident David Achavi said he understands UCLA’s
need to expand, but feels this project will make existing traffic
worse.

“I graduated from UCLA, I love UCLA, I’m very loyal
to UCLA,” he said. “But maybe there’s some other
solution that is not as severe to the neighborhood.”

Capital Programs, which oversees the university’s
construction projects, held a public hearing Wednesday to discuss
the project’s “Draft Environmental Impact
Report,” which was released Sept. 18.

The report is available at the Charles E. Young Research and
Biomedical Libraries. Palms-Rancho Park, Brentwood and West Los
Angeles Public Libraries also have copies of the report.
Administrators will review all concerns submitted before Nov.
1.

Liz Cheadle, assistant dean of UCLA School of Law, said many
graduate students are frustrated with having to commute to campus
and with finding parking.

“When I discussed this project with them, they were really
enthusiastic and just sorry that they wouldn’t be here to
take advantage of it,” Cheadle said.

But many Westwood residents voiced concerns that the project
will increase traffic rather than decrease it, since approximately
2,068 parking spaces will be added as part of the plan.

“If you’re serious about reducing cars, then
don’t have parking spaces,” said Sharon Milder, a
Westwood resident who attended the hearing. “Just give them a
room to live in.”

Milder said having the two entrances to the new building located
on Veteran Avenue will also increase traffic.

“My feeling is that nobody but UCLA wants this
project,” she said.

But, UCLA administrators said they feel the benefits of the
project will outweigh its disadvantages.

“As a world class institution, we strive to recruit and
retain the best graduate students,” said Claudia
Mitchell-Kernan, vice chancellor of graduate students.

She said increased housing will attract more of UCLA’s
prospective graduate students from out of town.

“With graduate housing, UCLA can grant initial housing for
one or two years and allow new graduate students to adjust to the
LA metropolitan area,” Mitchell-Kernan said.

Meanwhile, other Westwood residents are concerned that
landscapes on the proposed construction site will be
demolished.

Tova Lelah, assistant director of Campus and Environmental
Planning, said for every tree uprooted, the university will replant
another one.

This policy did not satisfy residents who said the current trees
are older and provide a “grove-like” image.

“Old trees are very expensive,” said Shelley Taylor,
head of the North Village Improvement Committee. “I
can’t imagine that the trees you are using as replacements
are as old as the ones we have now.”

Taylor said she’s worried about a higher noise level
brought in by new residents.

“Everyone can agree that the morals of students have
declined over the years,” she said. “They don’t
have respect for the community.”

Westwood residents questioned the necessity of the project and
worried about decreasing property values. Some suggested the
project site be moved to Lot 32.

But Martin Griffin, president of the Graduate Student
Association, said there is no other solution to the problem, citing
most graduate students live about 10 miles from campus.

Cheadle said the housing project would keep students from having
to leave campus early to beat rush hour traffic, thus allowing them
to participate in after school events.

“Having our students live on campus would create a greater
sense of community,” Cheadle said.