Westchester a college town?? Far from it.
One interesting claim that seems to pop up over and over again during this recent LMU partying dialog is that Westchester is a college town.
It’s been repeated in comments here at www.westchesterparents.org, on our local listservers, in the comments under the video at the KNBC website and elsewhere that we are living in a college town. Usually it’s repeated by the people defending the excessive partying that has been going on over the last five years that have turned our normally quiet streets upside down. The charge is that we should move or shut our f’ing trap if we don’t like it because we live in a “college town”.
Westchester however is by definition not a college town. Claims that it is are a kind of identity theft meant to dismiss the homeowner place in the community.
Real ‘college towns’ owe their very existence to the college or university they serve. College towns are like mining towns, or steel towns in that their economy depends entirely on one employer.
Looking closely at communities around Los Angeles, Westwood might come closest to a college town because of its tens of dozens of restaurants, movie theaters, clothing shops, book stores, comedy stores, rows of streets with apartments that cater almost exclusively to students and are in close proximity to the school. Westwood largely depends on a single employer, UCLA. Davis, California would be an even better example of a college town because it depends so heavily on UC Davis and its payroll.
But Westchester has none of that. Westchester doesn’t owe its existence to LMU in any way, shape, or form. If LMU were to shut down for a year because of construction, I doubt that life here would skip a beat. Whatever taxes the school pays, little of it is spent here since Los Angeles is quite a large city and downtown politicians control how its spent.
LMU, rather than being a benefactor to the community, it has been the beneficiary of residents of Westchester such as the late Kentwood resident and real estate magnate Howard Drollinger who understood the importance of higher education and donated much of his family’s wealth to Loyola Marymount and Loyola Law School in downtown Los Angeles. LMU’s beauty and almost rural ambience are a result of its nestled location deep within a residential community. Compare its campus to its law school in the gritty downtown area and you’ll know what I mean. Not even UCLA or USC can compare.
Even the more recent arrival of Otis Art Institute has not transformed Westchester into anything that could be described as a college town. With LMU’s enrollment at 7,800 students (many that don’t live in our immediate community), the schools population footprint is just a shadow of Westchester and Playa del Reys permanent residential population of over 50,000.
Looking back at our history, Westchester’s growth was a result of a post WW-II housing boom of returning overseas troops. Later an aerospace boom that dominated the region in the late 40′s through 70′ fueled housing production and sales.
Since the downturn of the aerospace industry, Westchester’s residents have gracefully transitioned to dependence on many thousands of employers spread all over the West side and South Bay. Unlike traditional college towns, Westchester depends no one employer.
So none of us should buy the claim that Westchester is a college town. It’s simply not.
It’s a specious claim that only serves the temporary arrivals of the LMU party circuit who claim that our homes and our community don’t really belong to us. It’s a kind of identity theft.
Westchester is not a college town, it is a town with a college. Don’t buy their claim.
I just read this comment on The Loyolan:
“The housing market is very good for buyers at the moment. You are more than welcome to sell your near million dollar home and move elsewhere. You could probably snatch a good bargain! If the university decided to reduce its involvement with the neighborhood, the Westchester area would quickly become the situation that you see near USC. Inglewood and everything that goes along with it would spill over into your Cold War era fantasyland. Reap what you sow…”
At least there was a student that replied to this clown who said
“Reap what you sow????? I’m sorry, why do you end your point with that cliche, I don’t get it. I am an LMU student and I think your argument is wack. LMU needs its community members as much as they need us. If all your saying to them is pick up and move you don’t belong in the debate. “
I do find it interesting that Westchester residents seem to act as if LMU “snuck up on them.” Loyola University was built on vacant land. Not a single house existed when the university re-settled in Westchester. Not one homeowner didn’t know there was a moderate sized university in the area when they purchased their homes. And the noisiest complainers seem to be those young families that were priced out of Santa Monica, the Palisades and Palos Verdes.
Lastly, schools don’t pay taxes… but the thousands of students and staff that make the pilgrimmage to Westchester do. They also pay the rents in many of the homes of the homeowners.
I don’t think there are any folks in Westchester that think LMU snuck up on them. LMU has been a great neighbor for decades and for the most part they continue to be. The problems today began surfacing about five years ago. What’s going on? Ask a social scientist. Maybe these kids, now young adults were raised with no more expectations than to get into college.
Right on, Westchester Dad. Hit the nail on the head. “The problems today began surfacing about five years ago.” One look at all the blogs and commentaries since this Fall ’08 semester began, and everyone knows what a lot of us knew 3 years ago. Things have broken down. Take a look at all the smart-ass comments from LMU students who feel it’s their entitlement to stomp on Westchester. We don’t owe our existence to that university. Not in the least. I don’t give a damn how many Twitter idiots say otherwise. Their scope is about as deep as a glass of milk. And these are the leaders of the future? God help us all.
Brian.
I sure hope that are not enrolled in a field of study where you one day will have to be responsible for people; cause you are either an idiot or a certified lunatic. To try and proffer the argument that we homeowners and permanent residents “should have known” that we would one day be invaded by rude and inconsiderate student-partygoers when we moved here, (in my case I was born here) is just plain stupid.
Let me say that again for effect; STUPID!
We live here because: we raise families and have endeavored to create a better life for them, some of which we have buried in nearby cemeteries, and because our children go to school and worship here, and finally because we hope to leave the town a little better than we got here. Some of us own businesses here, others work here, but all of us have fought in one way or another to get and keep a roof over our heads and find some sense of peace in this troubled land.
I don’t wish bad things for you nor malice towards any of your fellow students, as long as you respect the town while you are here. After all, you are more than likely just passing through.
You have the same rights as I do, as long as you follow the rules, and I and my neighbors welcome you. However, when you break the rules, you have reduced your personage to the level of a vagrant and a tramp; and you forfeit those rights.
I looked up the definition of guest: guest adj : staying temporarily; “a visiting foreigner.”
Welcome, Brian; but wake up!
Duke. Idiot.
I’m not a student at Loyola Marymount. I graduate in the nineties. I returned to the neighborhood and am now a tax-paying adult.
In fact, I was one when I went to LMU. I lived on campus for 3 of the 4 years. I was an RA in the dorms. I was an active sportsman who would often get up at 6 or 7 on weekend mornings to either enjoy Southern California or go to work at my job off campus. And in the mornings, I would trip over… Westchester residents taking their morning walks through campus. Your schools are supported by LMU volunteers (and money), your athletics benefit from LMU, your churches probably even find a few dollars slipped in the collection plate by LMU stakeholders.
And when most of the neighbhorhods in the area — Mar Vista, Inglewood, Culver City — slipped into decline, Westchester stayed nice. Maybe it was the racist real estate covenants (nice legacy, Westchester!) or maybe it was this first-class university sitting on the hill.
If you are so god awful miserable, why not leave Westchester?
>> And when most of the neighborhoods in the area — Mar Vista, Inglewood, Culver City — slipped into decline, Westchester stayed nice. Maybe it was the racist real estate covenants (nice legacy, Westchester!)
What years are you specifically referring to when you wrote of “slipped into decline?”
If those covenants ever existed (mine doesn’t show it) , those would have been null and void a half century ago.
>>or maybe it was this first-class university sitting on the hill.
I would argue that the local aerospace industry had more to do with the quality and viability of community than LMU though I’m sure LMU certainly contributed to it. However, there has been a significant change in the off campus behavior of recent students compared to those a decade ago.
Amongst all this warring I hope that I may be able to bring an opinion that has not yet been offered; that of a Westchester resident (whose family has lived here since the 1950s) AND an LMU student. As far as the accusations have gone, many people see a lack of commitment to the neighborhood because they are just “guests” or “visitors” but I have lived in Westchester almost my entire life, as has my mother and my grandparents. In an idealistic world, both homeowners and LMU students would be able to open up a conversation without any of the stigmas that have arisen from this recent feuding (ie: stuck up, asshole residents and ignorant, out-of control students). Already in this forum and in several others addressing the same topic, both sides of the conversation have accused the other of being “Idiots” and being “stupid.” How does anybody expect any solution to come from such relentless and fruitless squabbling?
My roommates and I are residents of the Westchester community and have introduced ourselves to our neighbors and have also been sure to give fair warning when we decide to through any parties. We also encourage our neighbors to flicker a light or to call us directly if things get out of hand, and still responsible LMU students/residents are never considered in this ridiculous fight for Westchester “domination.” To offer an example, my roommates had a small gathering of friends to offer support to one another after a friend had passed away. The next morning an angry neighbor banged on the door (at 6am) and complained of a ragging “party” that had occurred the night before. When my roommate tried to explain that it was not a party but a mourning, the neighbor called her a liar and walked away.
With such ridiculous stigmas we are never going to reach a solution. As long as LMU students only view their neighbors as party crushers and as long as homeowners automatically assume the absolute worst of LMU students we will never be able to recognize that we are all NEIGHBORS of a community! As both a resident and a student I see that, one, LMU students need to recognize that because they go to LMU they do not have an automatic right to behave however they please. There are people who go to work early in the morning, or have children that need to sleep or have property that does not need to get pissed on. When you leave LMU’s campus you are entering a neighborhood and being a part of a neighborhood you are entered in a social contract of mutual respect. And to the homeowners: LMU students should never be profiled, especially knowing our strong history of community and service involvement. Most of us want to make a difference, thats why we chose a Jesuit education. Most of us are very hard workers. We are compassionate, sympathetic people who are just trying to make sense of where we belong in this neighborhood, too.
I know this was very long but I hope that someone will read it and come to the realization that accusations, slurs, and assumptions will continually thwart a real conversation and any possibility of a lasting solution.
(I love Westchester and I love LMU and god help me for wanting to enjoy the best of both worlds!)