The Los Angeles Economic Development Committee held a hearing
Monday at City Hall regarding a proposed Business Improvement
District for Westwood.
Legislation to create a new BID will go to council next Tuesday
with the expectation that it will be passed, although not without a
fight from community organizers.
Councilman Jack Weiss, whose district includes UCLA and
Westwood, initially put plans for the new BID on the agenda for a
meeting to be held on Jan. 31 but referred it to the Economic
Development Committee after an outcry from merchants immediately
after the agenda was released.
Those who spoke at the hearing continued to emphasize the need
for a BID that would address parking in the Village, rather than
just street assessment, which is what the new BID would cover.
Already, $220,000 are spent on street maintenance annually, said
city clerk Michael Karey.
Westwood merchants were initially shocked when Weiss proposed a
new BID less than four months after the old BID was terminated.
The old BID almost exclusively addressed maintenance issues
““Â either merchants or business owners paid fees to the
district and in return the Village’s trees would be trimmed
and its sidewalks cleaned.
Little was done, however, in the way of business recruitment or
increased parking. Many merchants are now looking for something
different.
One of the leading proponents of the new BID is Doug Brown,
former treasurer of the old BID. During Brown’s two years
with the BID, $750,000 of the district’s capital improvement
fund went unaccounted for and has been in the process of being
audited since last August.
Another problem community members have with the new BID proposal
is that Weiss has designated Keyser Marston Associates, Inc. as the
BID’s consultant without offering any input from merchants or
property owners.
Several property owners were in attendance at Monday’s
hearing, but none voiced support for the upcoming BID as the
council might have expected them to.
Neither Weiss nor Brown appeared at the hearing, and Council
Deputy Eric Garcetti seemed to lack the full background information
on the topic.
Most involved in the process believe there should be a standard
interviewing process in which community organizers also have a say
in who becomes the consultant.
Jay Handal, president of the West L.A. City of Commerce,
formally submitted a request for Todreas Hanley Associates to get
consideration for the consultant position.
The firm is known for reviving college towns and worked at
university areas, including those at MIT and Emerson College in
Massachusetts.