Five taxi drivers waited in the taxi parking zone in front of the Hammer Museum for an hour Thursday afternoon, but nobody used their services.
The section of Lindbrook Drive in front of the Hammer museum is reserved for taxi parking, but some business owners have advocated getting rid of the area and using the space for parking.
City officials will re-evaluate taxi parking in front of the Hammer Museum after businesses complained the space could be better utilized.
Jasmine Shamolian, Westwood field deputy for council member Paul Koretz’s office, said during a Westwood Village Improvement Association meeting that Hammer Museum officials are also against the taxi zone, but museum officials declined to comment.
Andrew Thomas, executive director of the association, said property owners agreed to send letters to Koretz to show opposition to the taxi zone at the March meeting. He said most of the association members are in favor of reserving the zone for taxis only.
Thomas said he thinks the space could be used for metered parking or benches.
“Once the cabs leave the space, it opens a whole world of opportunities,” Thomas said.
Massis Hacopian, a taxi driver for Beverly Hills Cab, said she thinks removing the reserved taxi zone would displace taxi drivers who use it.
“It would affect us a lot,” Hacopian said. “We use the area for drop-off and pickup as well as waiting for calls, since the other two taxi parking areas in front of the W Hotel get too crowded with cabs.”
Some Westwood residents said they would choose to use ride-share services such as Uber and Lyft or public buses over taxis.
Sonia Perez, a first-year undeclared student, said she prefers to use public transportation but thinks the zone should stay reserved for taxis only.
“I think taxis should still get to park there,” she said. “Parking is hard to find in Westwood, but taxis still need a place.”
Kavita Ramnath, a second-year biochemistry student, said she didn’t think using the small area for taxi parking would do much to alleviate the lack of parking in Westwood Village.