Category: 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]

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 and would help deal with the unfunded liability in the pension.  Of course, the higher rate would mean a de facto greater employee contribution (for those employees who park) although there would also be “contributions” from non-employee visitors to campuses.  It is important to note that this proposal is a long, long way off from becoming reality, if it ever does.  But the articles referenced above suggest that at least some universities are looking towards parking as a funding remedy.  (The idea seems to have originated with some municipalities that were facing fiscal problems and then spilled over into higher ed circles.)
The Inside Higher Ed story is at
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/10/09/opposition-lucrative-parking-idea-indiana-u
The longer AP story is at
http://heraldbulletin.com/breakingnews/x1939586331/Opposition-grows-to-IU-proposal-to-lease-parking
Our audio from last month of the Regents discussing this issue is at
http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2012/09/listen-to-parking-to-pension-at-regents.html

And, of course, there is our favorite UCLA hotel which is due to displace a parking structure at absolutely no cost to anyone :).

Anyway, someone is thinking of rounding up the cash cows:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYFAtFQWf2o?feature=player_detailpage]

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 the proposal would raise costs for faculty, staff, and students who parked on UC campuses.  However, some of the cost would be off-loaded to campus visitors and patients who use campus parking.
You may not have thought of parking as an end-of-life issue but turning it over to the pension plan is a move in that direction!

You can hear the audio of the discussion of this matter at the two links below:
Part 1:
Part 2:

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 12th meeting have now been made public.  You can find a link below  to the basic minutes and to an attached list of questions raised by Prof. Shoup.  It should be noted that the position of the Academic Senate is that  while Planning and Budget ok’d the (revised) hotel business plan conditionally, issues remained about parking that needed resolution.  That resolution has yet to occur.  Hence, it cannot be said – although some may claim it – that the Senate has endorsed the project.  In fact, the issue remains open and unlikely to be resolved by the July Regents meeting. 

You can read the minutes of the Faculty Welfare Committee and the Shoup questions at the link below:

There are so many questions:

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.)

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 towards the best way to facilitate conferences on campus, the donor could end up with his name on three structures (guest house, Faculty Center, conference center), the Faculty Center could be made financially viable, and the neighbors and hotel owners could be satisfied.  An modified, scaled back plan has been presented on this blog in an earlier post. Undoubtedly, if the chancellor absolutely insists on the project “as is,” the Regents will ultimately yield.  But he would use up a lot of credibility going that route.

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 to the Center.  The new location involves demolishing a multistory parking structure and more displaced spaces.  Campus policy is that new buildings are supposed to compensate the parking service for costs entailed in lost spaces and replacements for them.  So keep an eye on that element in the plan when it is revealed.

Meanwhile, time is marching on: