The Quad: Exploring pros and cons of The Agora, how it compares to other housing options

We throw the term “affordable housing” around a lot in the collegiate setting – everyone wants it, but many students will agree that the two words haven’t previously coexisted in an area like Westwood.

The Agora, Westwood’s newest affordable housing project is supposed to help change that. However, since its initial proposal in November the proposed housing community has been the center of local controversy as some advocate for its affordability while others question its feasibility.

The plan is to build a 16-story apartment complex on Hilgard Avenue with 64 residential units and a total of 231 bedrooms. The majority of the apartments would have three to five bedrooms with some one- and two-bedroom units.

Originally, each bedroom was planned to hold one occupant, but developers decided to double the number of beds after hearing from a number of different stakeholders and students who advocated for increasing the availability of space.

The developers of The Agora are two doctors who want to help UCLA students by building a community centered around health and wellness. Plans include a vegetable garden, a kitchen, a meditation area, study spaces, a gym, a pool and a barbecue pit.

Rent will go for $1,000 to $1,200 per month. In addition, there are more than 50 beds set aside for low-income students which will rent for approximately $500 per month.

[RELATED: Westwood Neighborhood Council opposes The Agora plans amid building controversy]

Opposition, including some students and their nonstudent neighbors in Westwood question the true affordability of such a space. Since the cost of living on the Hill in a classic triple-occupancy dorm room with a 14P meal plan is only $200 more than the most expensive residence at The Agora, some say it’s not worth it.

“By those numbers, The Agora isn’t really ‘affordable.’ At best, it isn’t even marginally better,” according to The Daily Bruin Editorial Board.

Grayson Peters, a second-year political science student and member of the North Westwood Neighborhood Council and Westwood Forward student leadership committee, said building The Agora is still worthwhile even if it ends up being more expensive than originally planned.

“The most high-income students can flock to that option (The Agora) because that would be a luxury apartment that would be convenient, and in doing so they wouldn’t bid up the other apartments,” Peters said.

Westwood is pricey partly because it’s an upscale area, and partly because the demand for housing currently exceeds the supply. It seems counterintuitive to oppose building housing for fear of it being too expensive when the issue at hand is that current housing is too expensive because there isn’t enough of it.

So far, the Undergraduate Students Associated Council, the Westwood Forward student leadership committee and the UCLA Graduate Students Association have endorsed the project. The Holmby Westwood Property Owners Association and the Westwood Neighborhood Council opposed it.

[RELATED: Westwood Forward endorses The Agora citing potential as affordable student housing]

“Even though this is our university, we’re still living side by side with residents and I think they should also have a say in what’s goes on,” said Austin Gee, a third-year biology student and director of media for Bruin Shelter, a transitional housing program for homeless undergraduate students from the greater Los Angeles Area.

Some Westwood citizens are concerned about an increase in traffic. While the concentration of students on Hilgard Avenue might increase, many won’t need to drive – they’ll just walk across the street to school. Students likely won’t jeopardize surrounding parking spots either, since 190 car parking spaces and 205 bicycle parking spaces are all part of The Agora plan.

Other opposition comes from students living in PodShare, the co-living affordable housing community currently occupying part of the land coveted by developers of The Agora. Should the city approve the project, PodShare’s lease will end a year and a half early.

The issue here is twofold: is it worth destructing a pre-existing affordable housing community just to build another? Where will the residents of PodShare go if The Agora takes over their space?

“I don’t think hostel style living is sustainable for students, especially when they only have eight month long leases,” Peters said.

While the rent per month at PodShare is about $200 cheaper than The Agora, it has only 90 beds as compared to The Agora’s proposed 462.

In a 2016 survey, the UC found 5 percent of UC students experience homelessness. For these students or for those living paycheck to paycheck, an increase in traffic seems a small price to pay for increased housing security.

“I think that stable housing is an important step towards avoiding homelessness so it (The Agora) is preventative, not curative,” Peters said.

Gee also listed affordable housing as one of the fundamental ways to prevent homelessness.

He said being able to afford housing shouldn’t encroach on students pursuit for education.

While developers await approval from the city, conversation between neighbors, stakeholders and students continues.

While some students relish in the idea of additional affordable housing in Westwood, other stakeholders prefer to conserve the Westwood as we know it today. Total consensus is unlikely, but progress toward a middle ground is not.

Gee said conversation is key when it comes to an issue this contentious.

“We could paint each other as villains but if we really come and sit down with each other and really talk about this, I think we could make real progress,” he said.

Weekend in Preview: Feb. 22

Women’s water polo
Jack Perez, Daily Bruin staff

For the final time until conference championships, the Bruins will head to a weekend tournament once again.

No. 3 UCLA women’s water polo (14-1) will play at Irvine in this weekend’s Barbara Kalbus Invitational. The Bruins’ first matchup is against the No. 17 Long Beach State 49ers (2-6).

The two other teams in UCLA’s side of the bracket include No. 6 Michigan (6-5) and No. 12 Loyola Marymount (4-5). The Bruins have faced both the Wolverines and the Lions once this season, winning by two and one goals, respectively.

UCLA has allowed 10 goals in each of its past two games. Coach Adam Wright said his team’s lapses in focus during the games are making it hard to reach its full potential.

“We start to put ourselves in a really tough position,” Wright said. “One of our biggest issues is awareness. People are going to make mistakes, and in a team game you’re there to help each other. We haven’t really done a good job of knowing what’s going on around us.”

UCLA may potentially face rivals No. 1 USC (13-0), No. 2 Stanford (7-0) and No. 4 California (7-1) in the semifinals of the tournament. The Bruins fell to the Trojans 10-3 on Feb. 10.

In last year’s invitational, the Bruins squared off with the Cardinal in the semifinals, falling 10-3. They bounced back against the Golden Bears in the third-place game with a 7-5 victory.

Although his team could be seeing its top four rivals this weekend, Wright said his team will need to hone in on growing and continuing to improve rather than worrying about who it might play.

“The only thing we’re concentrated on is ourselves,” Wright said. “We really have to take pride in ourselves. If we have the opportunity to see those teams, my hope is that we’re going to take full advantage of that opportunity to grow.”

Women’s tennis
Dylan D’Souza, Daily Bruin contributor

The Bruins are back in action after an 11-day break.

No. 5 UCLA women’s tennis (5-1) will travel to Northern California to face Saint Mary’s (1-4) and No. 24 California (4-1).

“We’ve had a good week of practice where we could push (the players) really hard,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster. “Now we’re just focused on keeping them healthy. Everyone’s ready to compete again.”

The Bruins faced the Gaels once and the Golden Bears twice last season and came out on top in all three matchups.

Cal’s lone defeat – a 1-4 loss against No. 6 South Carolina (5-2) – was the first match of its ITA Kick-Off weekend. The Bruins edged the South Carolina Gamecocks 4-3 in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships to advance to the quarterfinals.

The Bruins are undefeated all-time against the Gaels and possess a 43-35 all-time record against the Bears.

“This will be a good test for us because Cal had a good win against Pepperdine last weekend,” said redshirt junior Jada Hart. “This is for us to see where we are before we start the Pac-12 conference pretty soon.”

Hart said freshman Elysia Bolton will potentially sit out the match against Saint Mary’s due to her participation in the ITF USA 05A tournament. Hart has been practicing doubles with freshman Taylor Johnson, who will likely replace Bolton as Hart’s doubles partner on court two.

Men’s golf
Justin Auh, Daily Bruin reporter

The Bruins will participate in their second tournament in two weeks.

UCLA men’s golf will compete in the Southwestern Invitational at Westlake Village, California, beginning Monday – less than a week after the team finished fourth at The Prestige presented by Charles Schwab.

“We’ve got a quick turnaround. … We have to rest and recover to make sure everyone is healthy,” said coach Derek Freeman. “We can’t tweak a lot playing this close to competition, so we have to make some minor adjustments.”

At the 2018 Southwestern Invitational, the Bruins finished first at eight-under – 20 strokes ahead of second-place Pepperdine. Junior Hidetoshi Yoshihara, senior Cole Madey and sophomore Devon Bling all placed in the top five.

The trio will represent UCLA again this year and, along with sophomore Eddy Lai and freshman Sean Maruyama, will boast the same lineup they did last week.

“(Those) guys know that they need to play well,” Freeman said. “We’ve got guys at home who are ready to go at a moment’s notice. That’s what’s great about having a deep team.”

Freeman also said the team must prepare for the tree-lined layout of the North Ranch Country Club course.

“(The course) is very different from the one we just played at, with really fast greens,” Freeman said. “We’re going to have to rely on hitting straight and keeping the ball below the hole on our approaches. If we do those two things, and if we just stay in position always, we’ll have a great event.”

UCLA will play in the Southwestern Invitational from Monday to Tuesday.

Track and field
Vinny Lavalsiti, Daily Bruin reporter

The Bruins have one more opportunity to punch their tickets.

UCLA track and field will be competing at the MPSF Indoor Championships in Seattle this weekend in a last-ditch attempt to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships.

After missing the entirety of his sophomore indoor season due to injury, junior distance runner Robert Brandt is seeking to qualify in both the 5,000 meter and 3,000 meter – the result of what Brandt said was a tweak in his training regiment.

“(This year), I’ve almost backed off a little bit and trained a little more within myself,” Brandt said. “It’s helped me focus on the racing and the important workouts rather than burning myself out early, … which is why I think I got injured. (Progress) just comes with maturity and being an older runner.”

Brandt’s time of 13:40.82 in the 5000m at the Husky Classic – a UCLA indoor record – placed him 12th in the event. Brandt is about seven seconds away from the 16th-placed qualifier in the 3000m.

“It was definitely a goal I had going into the season (to qualify in both events),” Brandt said.

Sophomore Alyssa Wilson, who is also attempting to qualify in two events, is placed second and sixth in the shot put and weight throw with distances of 17.73m and 22.23m, respectively.

UCLA has 10 athletes on the cusp of joining six qualified Bruins at NCAAs in Birmingham, Alabama. Six of those 16 athletes are throwers.

“We’re all at the level (we) can be in (the top 16),” said senior Justin Stafford, who is 22.5 inches away from a qualifying spot in the weight throw. “I feel confident in everyone’s preparation leading up to (MPSF Indoor Championships).”

Gymnastics undaunted by Saturday meet despite 2-year losing streak to unbeaten Utah

The Bruins have not beaten the Utes in a dual meet since 2016.

But coach Valorie Kondos Field said the team is unfazed.

“We honestly are just having such a great time,” Kondos Field said. “I don’t even think we know who we’re competing against next.”

No. 2 UCLA gymnastics (6-0, 5-0 Pac-12) will square off against No. 4 Utah (7-0, 5-0) in Salt Lake City on Saturday. This meet comes after UCLA reached Kondos Field’s goal of breaking the 198 threshold, defeating Arizona (1-5, 1-4) 198.025-194.975 on Saturday.

“This season we’re focused on beating ourselves, continually improving and working on the little details that are gonna push us over the 198 mark every time,” said junior Felicia Hano. “I don’t think the fact that we’re going up against Utah is going to change our mindset.”

Kondos Field also attributes this success to strong leadership from the upperclassmen. Their love of winning and of the team, she said, are key differences in comparison to the last two years.

“We’ve got really, really seasoned upperclassmen that are totally bought into the culture of this program,” Kondos Field said. “If the coaches didn’t show up one day for a practice or a meet, I think that everything would run just as smoothly.”

Despite the success and the win over the Wildcats, the Bruins stumbled in their performance on balance beam. Of all the athletes in the lineup, only junior Kyla Ross broke 9.900 with a 9.925, leading to UCLA’s lowest beam score of the season.

This uncharacteristic showing led to a focus on beam during practice this week.

“A lot of the girls actually restructured their routines a little bit,” Ross said. “Some girls are fixing their dismounts or changing their leap combo to make sure we can get all the 10s we can (or) just to try to improve our beam overall score.”

Utah will be the highest-ranked opponent UCLA has faced so far this year. Though the Utes have yet to reach the 198 mark, they are the only other undefeated team in the Pac-12.

However, the Bruins don’t feel any added pressure.

“If we go in and play our own game, we should come out having won the meet,” Kondos Field said. “We hit 198 doing poorly on balance beam, (so) it’s like, we’re a great team, they just need to play to win versus playing not to make mistakes.”

Women’s basketball gets second chance to beat the Ducks and the Beavers

The Bruins haven’t beaten a top-10 team this season, but they have the chance to do so Friday.

UCLA women’s basketball (16-10, 9-5 Pac-12) will have the opportunity to avenge losses to No. 2 Oregon (24-2, 13-1) and No. 12 Oregon State (21-5, 11-3) when it visits the two teams this weekend.

Coach Cori Close said the Bruins will have to mix things up and adjust defensively from the last time they faced the Ducks.

“(Oregon) is the best offensive team in the country,” Close said. “The reality is that their guards are so good. They are excellent passers, they are excellent shooters, they know how to find each other.”

The last time UCLA faced Oregon, the Ducks defeated the Bruins 72-52. UCLA shot 35 percent against Oregon’s zone defense, going just 3-of-12 from beyond the arc.

The Ducks outrebounded the Bruins 21-14 on the offensive glass, cashing them in for 25 second-chance points.

“We know that that is an area that we obviously did poor in when we played them the first time,” said redshirt senior forward Lajahna Drummer. “So it’s just making that adjustment and not letting them get that many, or at all.”

Oregon is coming off two consecutive games – known as the “Civil War series” – against rival Oregon State. The Ducks won the first contest 77-68, but fell to the Beavers 67-62 in the second.

Oregon forward Ruthy Hebard, who put up 19 points against UCLA the last time the teams met, is unlikely to play Friday due to an injury sustained in the second game against Oregon State.

But Bruin sophomore forward Lauryn Miller said the Ducks are still just as dangerous offensively without Hebard.

“We know that they still attack the basket really well without (Hebard),” Miller said. “So we definitely have to make sure that we lock in on their guards and their key go-to players. And we are still planning, whether she is in or out, to cover those 3-pointers and those layups.”

Oregon State will enter Sunday’s contest against UCLA fresh off a matchup with USC (15-10, 5-9) on Friday.

The Beavers defeated the Bruins 83-73 in their last battle, shooting 72 percent from the field in the fourth quarter alone and 56 percent for the game.

Oregon State is ranked second in 3-point shooting percentage in the conference and averages nine 3-pointers per contest.

“The reality is, Oregon State is a great 3-point shooting team,” Close said. “They execute extremely well, and we were not able to disrupt their execution down here. … That is going to be a key factor – us being able to disrupt that execution, get more deflections off passes, (and) pressure their guards.”

UCLA will take on Oregon at 8 p.m. Friday and will face Oregon State at 1 p.m. Sunday.

After strong homestand, baseball hopes to bring momentum onto the road

The Bruins will put their undefeated home record on hold this weekend.

No. 4 UCLA baseball (4-0) will begin a three-game series at Georgia Tech (2-1) on Friday night – the first and only time the team will play on the East Coast this season.

In their first four games, the Bruins outscored their opponents 28-3 and outhit them 33-13. Their offense was buoyed by senior designated hitter Jake Pries, who posted an average of .500 during the homestand.

On the mound, the UCLA pitching staff did not give up an earned run in 36 innings. They also held their opponents to a .110 batting average and put up a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 7.25.

And with junior right-hander Ryan Garcia still out with flexor inflammation, coach John Savage will be using the same rotation he did last weekend – right-handers sophomore Zach Pettway, redshirt junior Jack Ralston and freshman Jesse Bergin.

However, according to Savage, the Bruins already have another focus.

“Whenever you take care of business at home, the next test is what we’re gonna be on the road,” Savage said.

UCLA will travel farther than it will all season this weekend to play an unfamiliar foe, Georgia Tech. The Bruins last faced the Yellow Jackets in 1999, getting swept.

“It’s gonna be a competitive weekend, not at the friendly confines of (Jackie Robinson Stadium),” Savage said. “Good teams need to play well on the road. There are a lot of teams that take care of business at home, but then turn upside down on the road. So this will be a good test for us.”

Last season, UCLA boasted a 22-6 record at home but went 13-13 on the road and finished fourth in the Pac-12. The Bruins had a 17-8 record on the road in 2013, when they won their first and only NCAA championship.

Freshman right-hander Nick Nastrini said that winning at home helps build confidence for road games.

“We’re really pumped to go on the road,” Nastrini said. “I think it was really important to get the momentum going into Georgia Tech so we have a good base when we get there.”

The Yellow Jackets have had success of their own at home, posting a 25-10 home record last season and only a 6-14 record on the road.

Pries said that the key for success as a visiting team is to treat the game like any other, regardless of location or opponent.

“We’ve gotta be the same guys no matter where we are,” Pries said. “Same toughness, same mindset no matter what we’re doing. I think if we can get that consistency with these guys, it will be a good run.”

First pitch will be at 1 p.m on Friday, followed by 11 a.m. and 10 a.m. starts on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.