Westwood’s Broxton Avenue parking garage to upgrade facilities
The city of Los Angeles hired an external management company to manage the parking garage on Broxton Avenue. With the change in management, the parking garage will upgrade to accept card payments and build signs that show how many spaces are available. (Diana Celeste Luna/Daily Bruin)
By Janae Yip
May 10, 2016 12:32 a.m.
The post was updated on May 11 at 2:20 p.m.
A private management company will begin operating an existing city-managed parking garage on Broxton Avenue starting July 1.
The city will hire Modern Parking Inc. to manage the Broxton Avenue public parking garage, in an effort to save money on maintenance costs, said Miguel Santana, chief administrative officer of Los Angeles. It will cost about $115,000 for the company to manage the garage. This will be reduced by at least 15 percent once a parking control system is installed, said Paul Neuman, spokesperson for LA City Council member Paul Koretz, in an email statement.
The management company will also upgrade the facilities to include credit card payment machines and signs that show how many spaces are available on each floor, among other technological improvements, Neuman said in the statement. The parking garage currently only accepts cash.
Neuman added he could not provide cost estimates for the upgrades.
Parking in the structure, the only public lot in Westwood Village, is free for the first two hours and costs $4.50 per hour after, up to $9 each day. The City Council increased its evening rates in December 2014 from $3 to $4 and reduced the number of long-term parking passes in the structure.
Prices will still be controlled by the city, but new managers may extend the parking garage’s hours, said Andrew Thomas, executive director of the Westwood Village Improvement Association.
He added hiring the company can expedite future upgrades to the structure because private companies do not have to file requests for proposal processes. The management company will also hire their own employees and transfer current employees to other city facilities, Neuman said.
Susan Kwan, a contract employee in the UCLA cardiology department said she doesn’t mind the changes as long as the garage continues to offer free two-hour parking. She added she prefers the garage over campus parking lots because it is less expensive and offers two hours for free.
