While students and administrators celebrate the plans to erect
graduate housing on Weyburn and Veteran, some neighbors to the
project are a bit more wary.
The director of the Los Angeles National Cemetery is worried
about the changes the additional buildings will bring to the quiet
neighborhood via increased foot traffic through the cemetery,
specifically on Constitutional Avenue, the main walkway that
divides the cemetery in half.
“I have concerns about the additional traffic on
Constitutional Avenue. We have funerals here and I want to promote
the right respect for this national shrine,” said William
Livingston, director of the Los Angeles National Cemetery.
The cemetery, built in 1889, was originally a burial plot for
residents of the National Home of Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.
“When Abe Lincoln started the national cemetery system, he
didn’t think of the problems of cities infringing on national
shrines. If there wasn’t a cemetery here, if the people
buried here hadn’t given their lives for the country, there
might not even be a UCLA,” said Livingston.
Students who often walk on Constitution Avenue have acknowledged
the reverence that should come with the national cemetery.
“I always try to respect these soldiers when I pass
through. After all they’ve done for this country, they at
least deserve that,” said John Lee, a third-year biology
student, who walks through the cemetery to get to campus.
Others agree that those buried in the cemetery deserve
consideration, but not only because they were soldiers.
“I think students should definitely show respect for the
people buried here, not just because they were soldiers but because
they were human. I know I’d want people to respect the place
I’m buried in when I die, regardless of whether I died while
in military service or not,” said fourth-year English
student, Jennifer Collen.
Livingston is not overly concerned about the students who
currently pass through the cemetery. On the contrary, he recognizes
the respect they have shown towards the cemetery throughout the
past four years during which he has served as the director of the
Los Angeles National Cemetery.
“Students only walk through the cemetery on Constitution
Avenue, and that’s okay. I just want them to continue to
respect it the way they have in the years past,” Livingston
said.
He suggested that a way to portray this reverence for the
deceased is to get off one’s bicycle and walk through the
cemetery while there is a burial ceremony taking place.
“I want them to understand that when they cut through the
cemetery, they need to show respect if there’s a burial. How
would you feel if you were burying your mom or dad, and students
were just riding through the cemetery on their bicycles?”
Livingston said.
Rather than worrying about the construction and its noise,
Livingston is focusing more upon what will happen once the area is
inhabited.
“We want to make sure that the integrity and the serenity
of the cemetery is preserved,” Livingston said.
Livingston wants to prevent such instances from occurring in the
future, rather than waiting for them to happen before doing
something about it.
“These are things that I have to address because these are
things that I’m responsible for. We’re a part of the
same community. I want to survive with UCLA,” Livingston
said.
Livingston briefly spoke about these issues with Director of
Housing Michael Foraker, who referred him to another
department.
Angela Marciano, the associate director of housing, said that
she did not know detailed information about this issue. Foraker was
unavailable for comment.