UCLA starts upping parking even for disabled visitors

The Disabled Persons' visitor parking fee - just initiated by UCLA Transportation Dept. in Jan 1, 2010 - is only vs. the usual per day for other drivers.

Yet all the people who might read those signs were non-existant on campus for the preparatory viewing time of the placards. No explanatory fliers or instructions were available when asked for at a kiosk for parking fee collection.

The process of how they are going about informing the public, alumni, and all those who dont buy the monthly permits is the issue. Not the price.

[even Disabled students, staff, and faculty buy a special permit costing about - more or less - to park on campus now and then maybe will be charged the additional fee per day also ? It is not all so clear and understandable. And no one answers questions asked either.]

The only announcement in advance was during the winter break when the libraries f[or research] and the campus was pretty bare of humans. Then some street sign placards indicating the new fee were placed around. But no one was around campus to see them or understand how it all was to work out.

Letters, emails, phone calls were made by various visitors - those who frequently come to UCLA's campus for lectures, to do research, to attend performances or other events. They have all tried to get clarifications of circumstances and how this new fee structure will work. To NO AVAIL.

The bureaucratic system is intended to hide or maybe just lapses into ignore-ing all incoming questions and inquiries. Direct simple questions do not get an answer. Only after repeated sendings, then perhaps, maybe, could be, a form letter is sent - defensively claiming they have consulted other legal entities than the Transportation Dept, who probably initiated this change, but ....provide no actual information or answers to the questioners.

The frustration is trying to figure out where to go if one is disabled when the kiosks with real people to pay to are closed. And how to mobilize from the parking space to the vending machine for pay-per-slot and back to the car when there is no 'handicapped' space with enough room to exit the vehicle.

No consideration has been apparently made for the tight space-problem when parking in a regular parking-slot, for those with walkers, or with difficulty exiting their cars, or those who may have other more invisible-disabilitieswho also need their issues addressed.

The is a low enough fee, though the suddenness with which it has been initiated and the lack of preparedness of the announcements was made. With no written information, no specific instructions, no place to access answers for any concerns, and nothing more than the lowest-paid-kiosk-worker to take the flack or questions is left - and they do not know the answers anyhow.

Ask. They know no more than the big signs say : PAY for DP Parking.

The poor communications of the Transportation Dept and the perhaps lack of personnel to handle the questions or inquiries is deplorable. This disconcerned process leaves many a UCLA donor or Alumni or affiliate to wonder if the university is falling apart slowly...and in other depts as well.

After 7 X repeated tries to get an answer to specific simple direct questions, nothing has been forthcoming

for a month+1/2 so far. And this resistance to communicate from a learned institution that prides itself on being a serious academia with communication one of it's main features, of course.

Obviously, they need the money.

But it is how they ask for it and how inadequately they arrange to process the concerns of those who will willingly pay the fees is at issue.

Lack of information and contact is a poor way to do business, any kind of business.

UCLA should be more aware of these small but noticed failings....as if anyone could ever get 'thru" to to a real person somewhere... located in even the transportation dept that oversees all that moves on the campus' streets. A shame not yet realized by them, apparently.