Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | VOL. 162, NO. 19 | www.dailytrojan.com
MONDAY , SEPTE MBER 24, 2007
Chris Nguyen | Daily Trojan
At the park | USC students take it easy in makeshift parks set up in parking spots around campus. The demonstration
was part of PARK[ing] Day, a movement aimed at raising awareness about the use of green space in urban planning.
By JANNA BRANCOL INI
Daily Trojan
It’s not unusual to see students on campus loung-ing
in the grass, relaxing on park benches, eating
chips, playing with pets or tossing around a ball —
unless they happen to be doing all of this in a re-served
parking space on a paved campus road.
This scenario played out all day Friday as USC
School of Architecture students laid down sod,
chairs, benches and even a kiddie pool, turning park-ing
spaces into park spaces as part of Los Angeles’s
first annual “PARK[ing] Day” demonstration.
The event, which began in San Francisco in 2005
and has since spread to cities across California, is
aimed at engaging the public in a dialogue about
green spaces in urban environments, organizers
said.
USC’s demonstration was hosted by the Gradu-ate
Architecture Student Association and the Un-dergraduate
Architecture Student Council with the
goal of getting students to think about how parking
spaces fill scarce opportunities for green space in
large cities such as Los Angeles.
“This is more of an urban design statement to
make people think about how much they rely on the
car and what a city could look like without it,” said
USC architecture students demonstrated
the benefits of urban green spaces Friday.
Students
‘park it’
for the day
| see PARK, page 3 |
Campus congestion raises safety concerns
By MELODY CHIU
Daily Trojan
As traffic congestion increases on cam-pus,
concerns about the vehicles driven
by employees of the university are being
thrust into the fast lane.
These vehicles — including DPS
scooters and service carts used by depart-ments
such as Auxiliary Services and
TrojanTransportation — combined with
pedestrians, bicyclists and other vehicles,
are involved in more reported accidents
around campus.
Ten crashes involving carts and motor-ized
scooters were recorded by the DPS
since January 2007, DPS Capt. David
Carlisle said.
Carlisle said he expects the number to
continue to rise because of the growing
number of transportation modes that
contribute to campus congestion.
“[DPS] is concerned about the increas-ing
amount of congestion … plus there
are also motor vehicles on campus, in
addition to the electric carts, bikes and
skateboards,” he said.
Two of the 10 reported crashes oc-curred
this semester.
In one incidents, a student who was
driving a university cart near Waite Phil-lips
Hall struck another student, leaving
that student with an injured wrist, the
DPS crime log reported on Sept. 12.
In a second incident, a faculty member
told DPS he was nearly hit by a univer-sity
employee who was driving a cart at
an unsafe speed while he tried to cross
the street at Downey and Watt ways, ac-cording
to the DPS crime log and inci-dent
summary.
Some students say that although the
carts seem harmless when driven at slow
speeds, they become dangerous when
their drivers cruise at high speeds or
drive recklessly.
Chris Whitenhill, a junior majoring
in political science, said he often has to
slow down on or walk his bike to avoid
colliding with the vehicles. He said tak-ing
these precautions, however, does not
always guarantee him a safe trip to class.
“Earlier today, this electric golf cart
seemed like it was going to run me over,”
Defensive driving courses are
required for personnel who use
university vehicles.
»
16
FINE FORM
USC opened Pac-10 play by
thrashing WSU 47-14 behind
four touchdown passes from
John David Booty
SCRIPTED
Film Editor Matt Brennan asks
what allows Jane Austen’s novels
make the transition from stage
to screen so well 7
»
LETTERS | It’s easy to support a
troop surge in Iraq when you’re
not there, writes a student who
was deployed to Iraq.
PAGE 4
NEWS | Extreme Home Makeover,
USC Greek edition. Check out
which frats moved and spiffed up
their pads this summer.
PAGE 6
| see Traffic, page 5 |
LIFESTYLE | Poet’s walk, at 7 +
FIG, brings installation art and
poetry together in a unique urban
setting.
PAGE 8
Things You Must Have When Riding Your Bike
FA bike light when riding at night.
FBicycle registration — required by California law and university
regulations. You can register your bike at the Public Safety office. See
the Bicycle Policy in University Governance for more information.
FWorking brakes — get new pads and adjustments at any bike shop.
FHelmet — required by California law for bicyclists under 18 years of
age. Highly encouraged for persons over 18.
Rules to Keep in Mind When Riding
FAlways ride on the right and with the flow of traffic (also required
by California law). Ride on the road, not on the sidewalk, when
possible.
FObey all traffic laws. You must stop at intersections, just like other
vehicles. Pedestrians have the right-of-way.
FTake extra care when passing parking lot exits and other driveways.
	 	 	 	 Source: USC ’SCampus