Westwood residents to face parking penalties

For years, rows of cars stacked end to end in driveways and
partially blocking sidewalks have been a common sight in the
Westwood Village apartments.

But Los Angeles police announced that possibly as early as
November, they will begin ticketing for “apron parking”
““ the term used for cars parked illegally in driveways so
they protrude onto the sidewalks ““ in response to complaints
from North Village residents.

“There’s a lot of stacked parking on Landfair,
Levering and Strathmore,” said Kevin Eagen, a first-year
doctoral student in higher education and administration who lives
in Weyburn Terrace. “Part of the problem are the frat houses
““ it’s fairly common to see the same cars parked on the
sidewalk and spilling onto the street.”

Faced with the threat of penalization, some students are worried
about the lack of alternative parking options in Westwood, which
give North Village residents little choice but to park their cars
bumper to bumper in driveways and on the sidewalks.

“I think (the Los Angeles police) should not enforce (the
apron parking laws), since there’s not enough parking in
Westwood,” said Alex Mohr, a third-year civil engineering
student who lives on Midvale Avenue and has a car in Westwood. Mohr
said he currently pays $100 a month to park in a structure beneath
his apartment.

Mohr said it would be ideal if the city could build a new
parking structure, but recognized that doing so might not be
practical since housing is so expensive in Los Angeles.

Eagen, who purchases a parking spot in the Weyburn Terrace
parking structure for about $800 per year, said finding alternate
parking spots for many North Village residents could be a
significant problem.

“It is a nuisance for pedestrians (to weave around the
cars), but on the flip side if that were my only parking option I
would pose the question, “˜Where else can I
park?'” Eagen said.

Because parking is so scarce, some North Village landlords
charge their tenants a fee to park illegally in the driveways and
on the streets.

“This is a big issue, because some students are even being
charged by their landlords for the right to park in the driveways
and on the sidewalks ““ and that’s illegal,” said
PC Zai, facilities commissioner for the Undergraduate Students
Association Council.

Though the city of Los Angeles has largely ignored apron-parking
violations for the past 30 years, city officials recently decided
to reinstate enforcement of these parking laws due to a large
number of complaints from the neighborhood residents.

Two years ago, Los Angeles police began heavily ticketing
parking violations in the North Village, also in response to a
number of complaints. Many students reacted with outrage, arguing
that there are few other parking options in Westwood.

“Students were quite upset about the whole action, so the
city decided to back off the issue and accommodate the
students’ needs,” said Felicia Brannon, executive
director of UCLA Government and Community Relations.

Along with Student Affairs and Transportation Services,
Government Relations is working with the city to figure out
alternative parking options for students and ways to alleviate the
negative effects of the upcoming enforcement, Brannon said.

“UCLA is nearing its parking capacity ““ the
university can’t build much more than 1,000 new parking
spaces. So it’s a scarce resource question,” Zai
said.

Because of the limited amount of space, the UCLA administration
has been able to do little more than delay police enforcement until
winter quarter to allow students the opportunity to leave their
cars at home and find alternative public transportation
methods.

“We’re in the process of coordinating an effort on
campus to get this information out to students, so that they know
when the police will start ticketing,” Brannon said.

UCLA administrative factions will be meeting throughout the
quarter to address parking policies and issues and look for
alternative solutions.

Despite the concerns for alternative parking options, some
students believe that stricter enforcement may bring about a
positive result.

Jennifer Lee, a fourth-year English student who lives at the
corner of Tiverton and Le Conte avenues and does not have a car in
the area, said the stricter enforcement might help clear up the
inconvenient congestion near the apartments.

“As long as (the enforcement’s) consistent, I
don’t think it’s bad if it’s harsh. It would
definitely minimize an inconvenience for students ““ if
you’re the first car and you’re late to a meeting, you
might not be able to get out of the jam,” Lee said. “If
the enforcement is going to be stricter, most students will figure
out parking solutions for themselves.”