The Westwood Village Improvement Association, also known as the BID, is a nonprofit organization tasked with improving the state of Westwood Village. The BID was created by property and business owners in August 2011 to provide Westwood Village with functions the City of Los Angeles could not provide. Its board of directors meets monthly.
- Andrew Thomas, executive director of the BID, said in his monthly report the second phase of street repairs on Westwood Boulevard through the Great Streets initiative began on March 8 and will finish sometime this week.
- Thomas said Whole Foods Market donated 5 percent of its sales on Wednesday to the BID. He said he does not know yet how much money the BID received in total.
- He added architect John Kaliski will teach a graduate class at UCLA in spring quarter in which students will present to the board options for possible amendments to the Westwood Village Specific Plan. He said the class will meet with stakeholders, community members and the board on April 7.
- Chair Jessica Dabney said board member Kevin Kemp, who held a merchant seat, resigned the board and a committee will find a replacement. She added the committee will also look to fill the zone two seat that was vacated last month.
- Dabney said the BID staff began looking for a new office space. The staff’s offices are currently located on the first floor of Oppenheimer Tower on Wilshire Boulevard.
- Vice Chair Jim Brooks said the BID’s clean, safe and beautiful committee is looking for merchants and stakeholders to form an ad hoc committee that will look for locations for a public plaza.
- Board member Josh Weisman said the BID’s business attraction and retention committee is looking to improve the BID’s website and to ask businesses to place advertisements on the BID’s walking map. He said the committee hopes to make these maps available at hotels and other tourist areas.
- Peer Ghent, general manager of Express Park, gave the board an update regarding the new parking program the city implemented in the Village in November. He said parking rates increased from $1 per hour to an average of $1.35. He said the average is expected to increase sometime in April to $1.65 per hour. He added the new program has significantly decreased meter feeding and increased parking turnover.
- Chris Ragsdale, the Los Angeles Police Department’s senior lead officer for Westwood, gave a presentation to the board about recent crimes in Westwood, including a robbery suspect LAPD arrested and how they respond to calls.
- Thomas gave a presentation about the Robert York Report, which states recommendation to the BID on how to improve Westwood Village. Among those recommendations were improving Westwood’s theaters and hosting additional entertainment events.