Not Having a Perfect Day?
Not to worry. One of UCLA’s parking facilities has info on what number to call to make it right:
parking
Charge!
Up to now in the UCLA parking facility where the photo above was taken, yours truly has seen only campus “golf cart” type electric vehicles used by service staff plugged in. Now that hybrid electric and all-electric vehicles are being sold for regular street use, scenes like the one above will become more common. (The car shown is a Honda model.) However, most parking spots do not have nearby electrical outlets. Presumably, UCLA is ok with such charging where a nearby outlet exists. But will there be more of them installed?
Try to remember…
Only a handful of parking spaces in the UCLA lot near Wilshire are numbered. Surely, for those that are, there must be some easier numbers available to remember. (Like 1, 2, 3…) However, do your best:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G52JKyAqD4?feature=player_detailpage]
Odd Photo
LAObserved has an article about the decision at the LA City Council not to raise the City’s parking tax. (Screenshot above.) Nothing odd about an article dealing with that story. What is odd is the photo of a UCLA parking booth used to illustrate the article. UCLA does not pay LA City’s parking tax. The article is at http://www.laobserved.com/biz/2012/10/now_this_is_interest.php
Parking Revenue: Cash Cow for Higher Ed?
Inside Higher Ed today has a short story about a controversy over a proposed long-term lease of parking facilities at Indiana University to a private operator in exchange for a lump sum payment. The story links to a longer AP article on the issue which notes that Ohio State U has gone in that direction. Readers of this blog will know that at the Regents’ retreat last month, the Regents discussed a proposal to transfer campus parking services – after a rate increase – to the UC pension fund. With the higher rate, the parking services would have higher value…
Listen to Parking to Pension at the Regents Retreat
At the Regents retreat today, everything connected to the budget was “on the table.” One unusual option presented by UCOP’s financial staff was a proposal to raise campus parking fees (thus making the parking services more valuable) and then give the UC parking system to the pension fund as a portfolio asset. Doing so would reduce the need for pension employer and employee pension contributions. The idea is a variant of a plan some cities have implemented or considered to sell their parking meters and parking lots to a private firm for an upfront payment. It was pointed out that…
Questions Raised About Parking Reimbursement for Proposed UCLA Hotel/Conference Center
The proposed UCLA hotel/conference center would involve demolition and removal of the parking spaces of parking structure #6 (shown at left). UCLA policy is to reimburse the parking service for such demolitions. In the UCLA case, however, the planned reimbursement seems over $10 million less than policy would require. Parking expert Prof. Donald Shoup – author of the acclaimed book “The High Cost of Free Parking” – examined the planned reimbursement and has questioned the proposed reimbursement on behalf of the UCLA Faculty Welfare Committee, a committee of the campus Academic Senate. The Faculty Welfare Committee’s minutes for the June…
Inconsistent Construction?
When UCLA presented its plan for the Weyburn Terrace Grad Student Housing in 2009, it included a $2,193,000 parking buyout. You can find a link to the plan below. The parking buyout is reported in footnote “e” of Attachment 1. The business plan for the hotel/conference center deviates from the parking buyout policy. Undoubtedly, when UCLA comes back to the Regents with answers to questions raised at the Regents meeting last week, it will want to explain the deviation. (Or maybe it won’t; we will see.) Open publication – Free publishing – More parking
No Parking? (and no decision at the Regents)
There are in fact UCLA policies about reimbursing the parking authority for the costs of parking replacement when capital projects displace existing parking. Contrary assertions were made at the Regents meeting on the hotel/conference center. Below you will find a link to the official parking policy: Open publication – Free publishing – More parking Yours truly is in transit at the moment but I am told that the hotel matter was deferred today to the next meeting of the Regents after the embarrassing questions that occurred at the Regents yesterday. If UCLA is willing to rethink this project as working…
One Element to Keep Your Eye on When the Business Plan for the UCLA Hotel/Conference Center is Revealed: Parking
The next Regents meeting is scheduled for March 27-29. If UCLA wants to get its hotel/conference center proposal on the agenda – which is typically published online by the Regents about two weeks before each meeting – it will soon have to unveil its business plan. The UCLA Faculty Association has been requesting that plan for months, so far without results. There are many elements of the new plan to consider. One difference between the original plan, which would have been constructed on the Faculty Center site, is replacement parking. The original site would have displaced some ground-level parking next…