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Westchester • Playa del Rey • Marina del Rey • Playa Vista
September
your community newspaper • your community • WESTCHESTER • PLAYA DEL REY • MARINA DEL REY • PLAYA VISTA • your community newspaper • your community
LMU begins charging for visitor parking on campus If you visit Loyola Marymount University (LMU) during the weekdays, it’s going to cost you. Beginning Monday, August 27, the first day of the fall semester, the university began charging visitors for parking. Now visitors will be charged from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. $2 per 20 minutes, with a maximum parking fee of $10 per day. According to the university, they begin charging for on-campus parking in the early 1970s. With the January 2000 purchase of University Hall, LMU agreed to not charge for parking on campus as part of the Conditional Use
Permit tied to purchasing the building. LMU’s Master Plan, which went into effect in April 2011, however, stipulates that the university can again charge for parking. LMU is charging “for parking as part of a general parking management program designed to address parking demands as well as comply with the mandate to add more parking on campus.” At the Department of City Planning’s July 18 meeting regarding LMU’s Specific Plan and Development Agreement, some in the audience asked the department on its perspective on
LMU charging for parking. They cited a provision in the Master Plan regarding community benefits, which includes the public use of certain university facilities, and providing meeting rooms for community groups like the quarterly LMU Neighborhood Advisory Meeting. Neighbors at the meeting also brought up their concerns about students parking in the community come January 2013 when students, faculty and staff will begin being charged for parking on campus. According to the university, 83 percent of its students live between 0-3
miles from campus, while 33 percent of its faculty lives the same distance. LMU hopes that students and employees with short commutes will walk, bike, or take public transportation to campus. Said W.H.O.L.E (Westchester Homeowners Observing Loyola Expansion) coordinator Linda Kokelaar at the meeting, “Those that do not wish to pay to park on campus will park in our neighborhood, expanding LMU’s footprint. Adding cars to our neighborhood will clearly expand (continued on page 7)
NCWP to hold town hall meeting on LAX SPAS DEIR On Thursday, September 27, the Neighborhood Council of Westchester/ Playa will hold a town hall meeting to discuss the Draft EIR for the LAX Specific Plan Amendment Study. The meeting will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the auditorium at Westchester Enriched Science Magnet School (formerly known as Westchester High School), located at 7400 W. Manchester Ave. in Westchester. The moderator will be former State Assemblyman Richard Katz. Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) has been invited to give a brief presentation on the SPAS report and elected officials have also been invited to give their take on the document. LAWA is not expected to give their preference on any of the nine proposals listed in the Draft EIR, which are aimed to increase efficiency and safety at the airport, until after the public comment period has ended. At the meeting, the NCWP Airport Relations Committee will make a presentation on their preference for Alternatives 2 and 9. Members of the public will have the opportunity to submit speaker cards and comment.
Organizers are planning on having a stenographer so that a transcript of the meeting can be submitted to LAWA. NCWP Airport Relations Chair and 30-year resident of Playa del Rey, Craig Eggers, is hoping that the community will rally behind this issue and provide a very large turnout for this meeting. Said Eggers, “The community is missing the boat if we don’t have double the number of attendees that were at the redistricting meeting. This is a much bigger issue. This is the biggest issue facing our community and one of the biggest projects to happen in L.A. in the last 50 years.” The public comment period for the LAX SPAS Draft EIR ends on October 10. Those interested can submit their comments via laxspas.org, via email at spaseircomments@lawa.org or by writing Mr. Diego Alvarez, SPAS Program Director; Los Angeles World Airports; 1 World Way, Room 218; Los Angeles, CA 90045. “My interest in this is the long-term stewardship of the community,” said Eggers. “That is what is driving me. We will do our best to fight this.”
At left: A LAWA representative discusses air quality with a community member at the August 29 open house at the Proud Bird Restaurant.
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