Friday, 5/16/97 Few merchants picket to protest newly expanded
Ackerman Union WESTWOOD Some shop owners claim university hurts
village businesses
By Rachel Munoz and Gil Hopenstand Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Claiming that the foot traffic into Westwood Village had been
reduced by 80 percent because of UCLA, Gary Avrech, owner of the
Student Shopper, with other Westwood business participants, rallied
peacefully near Ackerman Student Union Thursday afternoon. The
scheduled rally and march turned out to be a three-person picketing
line. The small demonstration was put on to protest the alleged
"unfair competition" that Ackerman Union imposes upon Westwood. "We
are protesting today to bring attention to this," Avrech said.
Avrech says that the increasingly dwindling number of people into
Westwood is a "direct result of an expansion and remodeling of
restaurants and other business enterprises at UCLA, culminating
with the unveiling of UCLA’s $40 million Ackerman Union shopping
mall," according to the letter Avrech wrote to Gov. Pete Wilson and
the UC Board of Regents. While the three protesters handed out
flyers in front of Ackerman Union, a voting booth nearby asked the
protesters to move because they thought the flyers were related to
the student elections. "I think the rally is totally misdirected,"
said Carol Ann Smart, UCLA Store director of retail operations. "A
revitalized UCLA Store on a beautiful UCLA campus brings traffic
into Westwood." In addition to the picketing on campus, Avrech
encouraged business owners who agree that UCLA poses unfair
competition to Westwood merchants, to close their businesses
between 2 and 5p.m. "It’s completely voluntary," Avrech said of the
businesses closing their doors for the afternoon. "Some can and
some can’t." That is exactly the problem that the businesses who
would like to participate with Avrech ran into. The reply from both
Bel Air Camera and J&B Shoes when asked if they were closing
for the cause was: "Can’t afford to." Other business found that the
corporate offices wouldn’t allow the doors on their Westwood stores
to be closed. "I wish I could close and go home (early) but I
can’t. Corporate won’t allow it," said Rajendra Kumar, manager of
the Radio Shack. However, not all businesses think that UCLA has
really impacted their sales over the past few years. "My business
is not affected," said David Freidman of Crescent Jewelers. "There
are no fine jewelers on campus." While Friedman admits that more
students come into his store than people think, he still believes
that UCLA sells merchandise that students would usually go off
campus to purchase. "UCLA has gotten into the retail business.
Students have less incentive to leave campus," Freidman said.
Freidman agrees with Avrech, saying that UCLA is gobbling up the
Village. "UCLA is encroaching further and further into the
Village," Freidman said. "UCLA has a lot of money. It’s like a
monopoly game that they can pick up properties." Hoping to end what
he believes is unfair competition from UCLA, Avrech created a
petition which he says has been signed by 110 Westwood merchants
Avrech’s petition puts in writing his beliefs, proposing that an
immediate moratorium to be placed on new businesses and restaurant
development on campus in addition to dismantling existing on-campus
business operations which directly compete with privately owned
businesses in the region. "Anything we collectively can do to make
Westwood and UCLA more attractive we should be working hard
together to make happen," Smart said. PATRICK LAM/Daily Bruin A
small group of Westwood Village merchants picket on campus to
protest the newly expanded Ackerman Union. Related Links:
ASUCLA