Tuesday, November 24, 1998
All eyes on ucla
GROWTH: One homeowners group
is devoted to making sure
the campus doesn’t get too big
By Lawrence Ferchaw
Daily Bruin Staff
When the UC Board of Regents toured the campus last week on
their way to approving the expansion of the new medical center,
Alvin and Sharon Milder were there to make their case to the board
about the size and location of the center.
The Milders head UCLA Watch, a coalition of homeowner groups
near UCLA which monitors the university’s impact on the surrounding
environment, according to Alvin.
"Our concerns deal with the effects of construction, the
increased traffic, noise and visual aspects," said Alvin.
UCLA Watch took part in formulating UCLA’s Long Range
Development Plan in 1990, which established how much construction
would occur on campus for 15 years.
"We’re a unified voice for neighbors," Alvin said of the group,
which he said represents 20,000 homeowners near UCLA. "We worked
closely with UCLA and tried to hold back the tide of cementing over
campus."
Since the work done during the formulation of the development
plan, UCLA Watch has become less influential, according to Carole
Magnuson, formerly UCLA’s director of local relations and currently
a consultant to the government and community relations office.
"The group fell apart," said Magnuson. "(But) Alvin reinvokes it
from time to time."
UCLA Watch is also concerned about the removal of trees from
campus. Alvin said the group is concerned that the campus will lose
its "park-like" atmosphere.
"Without the trees, campus would be a pretty sad place," he
said.
Chancellor Albert Carnesale said he shares the concerns of UCLA
Watch to maintain the campus’ atmosphere. But construction will
continue, he added.
"We’re eager to preserve that (environment), but it doesn’t mean
that there will be no changes," Carnesale said. "We’re quite
conscious of the need to preserve open spaces, provide greenery and
buffers."
"Despite expansion, we have managed to preserve the beauty of
this campus," Carnesale said.
Charles "Duke" Oakley, assistant vice-chancellor of design and
construction, said that open green space has actually increased in
the last 10 to 12 years.
"The amount of land that has grain on it has increased," Oakley
said.
This has been accomplished by changing what used to be large
asphalt parking lots into buildings while adding lawns and trees,
according to Oakley.
Carnesale also pointed out that a number of the construction
projects are related to either damage from the 1994 Northridge
earthquake or changes in the building codes that require buildings
to be seismically upgraded.
"The current hospital is not safe in the event of an
earthquake," Carnesale said.
The upcoming construction on the medical center is scheduled to
be completed in 2012 at a cost of $1.2 billion.
Alvin has taken a great interest in that project and its
environmental impact report, which the regents approved at their
meeting last week.
"It will be the equivalent of three football fields and 15
stories high," Alvin said. "It will dwarf other buildings on
campus."
The building will be six times larger than Powell Library,
according to Alvin.
But this is not an increase in the size of the center, the
chancellor said.
"The hospital is actually not an expansion. The number of square
feet in the new facility, overall, for the medical facility will be
the same roughly as it is now," Carnesale said.
The center would be better situated at the corner of Wilshire
Boulevard and Veteran Avenue, according to Alvin. The recently
approved plan is for the replacement hospital to be situated where
Lot 14 is now, and new structures will replace current facilities
which are slated to be demolished.
"What they’re going to demolish is safe enough for classes and
staff, but not for hospital purposes," Alvin said.
Alvin is also concerned about the possible removal of the
eucalyptus trees which currently line Westwood Boulevard.
"They can talk about the loss of trees in the rain forest, but
not the loss of trees at UCLA," Alvin said.
The trees were donated to the university by the Daughters of the
American Revolution and are now in danger because of their failing
health.
"We had a preliminary study done two years ago that suggested
that they are, as a group, not healthy," Oakley said. "They’re not
slated to be taken down en masse."
UCLA Watch’s first rallying point, the Long Range Development
Plan, has since been slightly altered with approval by the UC Board
of Regents to reallocate the amount of construction that would take
place in the six zones which make up the campus.
The Morgan Center expansion and the construction of the Westwood
Plaza Office Building required amendments to the plan, which takes
allocated space from the southwest region of the campus – mostly in
Westwood – to the central area of the campus.
During that time, the university already had a community
program, which involved a number of housing associations. Alvin
drew in the Brentwood homeowner’s association in addition to those
already involved, according to Magnuson.
Despite this, Magnuson said she thinks that UCLA Watch could be
productive if it had a more "positive tone."
"Community groups play a very valuable role," Magnuson said.
"Their presence keeps everyone on their toes."
Despite his efforts over the years to influence decision-making
at the university, Alvin said the campaign has grown tiresome.
"I’ve been doing this for twenty-some years and it gets a little
old after a while," Alvin said.
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