A keystone species is crucial to maintaining the structure of any ecological community. In Westwood, the Broxton garage fulfills this critical role, offering free two-hour parking that coaxes visitors to dine at restaurants and shop at stores.
Were it not for this single garage, free parking in Westwood would be nearly impossible to find.
Yet, this rare species is now on the verge of extinction.
The City of Los Angeles intends to sell nine parking garages, including the Broxton parking structure, in an effort to pay for its long-term deficit and close its budget shortfalls.
But selling the parking structure will not bring the cure to the long-term deficit.
Instead, this move will have the effect of devastating the already crippled Westwood Village and will ultimately worsen the fiscal prospects of the state.
David Friedman, owner of Sarah Leonard, the family-owned jewelry store on Westwood Boulevard, predicts that the tax revenues the city would get from people making purchases at the stores in the Village will offset the short-term influx of cash from this shortsighted approach.
Unless Bruins vocalize their opposition to this shortsighted measure, students will not only lose free parking, but also time-honored traditions. UCLA students must recall that they are inextricably linked to Westwood’s businesses in this intricate ecosystem, and that harm done to businesses will equally hurt us.
Until now, many student organizations have benefited from the generosity of neighboring businesses.
UCLA traditions like Dance Marathon have enjoyed the sponsorship of local businesses. But once these businesses decide to vacate the Village, time-honored traditions and events that UCLA is known for will also diminish when there are no longer any businesses to appeal to.
Admittedly, students will not experience the fee increase immediately once the city’s decision does pass.
A contract guarantees that the bidder who purchases the parking structure is prohibited from increasing the fee for the first five years, said Lisa Chapman, the faculty director of the Westwood Neighborhood Council.
But once that period expires, the bidder is free to increase the price to whatever the market permits, meaning free parking for shoppers and diners alike will be effectively discontinued.
Some will avoid this hassle by seeking amusement elsewhere, like the Century City Mall or the Westside Pavilion, where free parking will still be available.
But soon enough, nobody in the Westwood community will be able to evade the detrimental consequences of this measure.
Westwood has been in a recession since the 1980s, when neighboring communities like Santa Monica and Culver City began to offer free parking. Efforts to revitalize Westwood will be hampered.
Old tenants will refuse to renew leases, while prospective tenants will refuse to sign new leases in many of the vacancies. In uncertain times like these, tenants like Friedman are choosing to temporarily stall their plans to expand their businesses.
Rather than solving the long-term deficit, many argue that this shortsighted measure will lead to negative long-term implications that will be harder to reverse in the future.
“The repercussions of disposing the Broxton lot will be felt for the next five decades,” Friedman said.
A mere couple of blocks away from campus, Westwood should be treated as an extension of UCLA. If the quality of our surrounding village suffers, it is only a matter of time before the lives of students will meet that same fate.
Although the Westwood Neighborhood Council unanimously voted to oppose the privatization of the Broxton parking structure, there is no definitive assurance that this will take place. Ultimately, the council is only an advisory board to the city council.
According to Friedman, the city council will only react when enough constituents let their displeasure be known.
In this community, businesses and students alike are more closely linked than we initially believe.
Every year we have appealed to businesses in Westwood to support our causes, and now we have a chance to return that favor.
Should we fail to mobilize ourselves for this cause, current and future generations of Bruins will lose a vital support system that has been taken for granted.
Think parking should be privatized? E-mail Oh at koh@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to opinion@media.ucla.edu.