Westwood officials spent about $50,000 last year to commission a report that suggested improvements for Westwood Village. A year later, city officials have addressed about half of the recommendations.
The Westwood Village Improvement Association, also known as the Business Improvement District or BID, hired the York Consulting Group to develop short- and long-term strategies to increase commerce in the Village. The firm spent 120 days meeting with business and property owners, analyzing the Village’s current conditions and reviewing existing studies and plans.
The report recommended Westwood officials to bring in new profitable, attractive stores on corners and find a permanent solution to the Village’s poor parking situation. It also concluded that poor street lighting, faded crosswalks and expensive parking were responsible for Westwood’s bad evening business revenue.
Andrew Thomas, executive director of the BID, said the association has since addressed some of the report’s proposals by adding LED street lights, which are brighter and more energy efficient. The BID’s board of directors also budgeted more money for tree lighting at its October meeting, and hired workers to repaint 14 faded crosswalks.
The report also suggested the BID create a long-term plan to add more evening and weekend activities, partner more closely with UCLA and update the Westwood Village Specific Plan by 2020. The specific plan is a master planning document created in 1989 that aims to ensure a balance of businesses in Westwood.
Clinton Schudy, owner of Oakley’s Barber Shop, said he thinks the report was a good investment because he has since been able to hire two more people, but changing parking meters outside his shop from two-hour to 15-minute intervals, makes getting a haircut more expensive and difficult for customers.
Steve Sann, chair of the Westwood Community Council, said the BID has not brought higher-end businesses to street corners in the Village, or fixed messy store decorations, as the report suggested.
Lisa Chapman, vice president of the Westwood Neighborhood Council, said she thinks the BID wasted money hiring a consulting firm because Westwood residents could have arrived at the report’s conclusions themselves.
Chapman said she agrees with the report’s findings but added the neighborhood council had already discussed some of the issues the report raised, such as infeasible parking and worn-out crosswalks.
Thomas said the BID will begin construction next July on a mid-block crosswalk on Westwood Boulevard between Weyburn and Kinross avenues, as suggested in the report. He added the BID will also convert the remaining lights in the Village to LEDs.