Residents-Only Parking Proposed for Westwood Streets Near UCLA

Beset with parking problems that are being blamed on their own neighbors, Westwood residents living near UCLA are backing a city proposal to reserve street parking solely for themselves.

The city Transportation Department has proposed banning all non-resident parking from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on several streets east of UCLA, among them Westholme Avenue, Wyton Drive, Sunset Boulevard and Hilgard Avenue.

Richard Jaramillo, an engineer in the department, said the proposal is the latest in a series of efforts by the city to free parking spaces for residents in front of their homes.

“Nothing else we have tried has worked,” Jaramillo said. “Parking spaces, particularly on Westholme and Wyton, are used by people who do not live on the streets. We believe the new proposal will be effective.”

For the past three years, there has been a preferential parking district in the area, bounded by Wilshire Boulevard, Hilgard Avenue, Sunset Bouldvard and Beverly Glen Boulevard. Residents within the district are given permits that they display in their vehicles.

The problem, according to Jaramillo, is that residents living on the outer edges of the district have parked their vehicles on Westholme and Wyton when either attending classes or visiting the UCLA campus. Making the problem worse, non-resident students are also using the streets to park their cars.

“Residents on those two streets have been complaining for at least two years that they cannot find parking spaces in front of their homes,” Jaramillo said.

The new plan would place portions of Westholme, Wyton, Sunset, Hilgard, Charing Cross Road, Comstock Avenue, Thayer Avenue, Edgeley Place, Dalehurst Avenue and Malcolm Avenue in a separate preferential parking district. Only residents of the designated portions of the streets would be able to park there during the daytime when UCLA attendance is at its peak.

Endorsed by Yaroslavsky

Roberta D. Goldstone, field deputy to Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who represents the area, said the councilman has endorsed the proposal, which will be brought before the City Council’s Transportation Committee in late January or early February.

Ronald A. Hecker is an opponent of the plan. His wife, Judith, attends UCLA Law School and parks her car on some of the streets that would be affected by the ban. The Heckers live near the southern edge of the existing preferential parking district.

Hecker said his main complaint is that public streets are being taken away from the public.

“It’s the principle that bothers me more than anything,” Hecker said. “These are public streets, not a country club. What I see happening is adding more and more restrictions on more and more streets, until there is no such thing as a public place to park.”

Hecker said banning parking on some streets would serve to drive motorists to park on other streets in the neighborhood. “Had I known this was going to be the result,” he said, “I doubt if I would have supported establishing our preferential parking district in the first place.”

J. Donald Waldman, chairman of parking for the Holmby-Westwood Homeowners Assn., said the group’s board of directors has endorsed the new proposal.

“All we really want,” he said, “is the ability to park in front of our own homes. We are not a parking extension of UCLA. We resented the fact our neighbors have taken advantage of the existing district to snap up all the parking spots in front of our homes.”