City council hires consulting firm to help develop new BID

After a long and contentious wait, Westwood is hoping a new
organization will work to promote business in the Village.

A consulting firm hired by the city council is working on the
shape of a new Business Improvement District for Westwood
Village.

The proposal to begin forming a new BID was made by Councilman
Jack Weiss, who represents Los Angeles’ Fifth District, which
includes Westwood.

The council did not establish a BID for Westwood but allocated
$25,000 for the services of Keyser Marston Associates, a consulting
firm.

According to Jay Handal, president of the West Los Angeles
Chamber of Commerce, the consulting firm will meet with Westwood
business and community interest groups as part of the BID’s
development process.

Handal said, “Everybody who has anything to do with the
rebuilding of Westwood Village” will be involved.

Earlier in the year, Weiss had proposed a BID that was limited
to maintenance concerns.

He withdrew that proposal after strong protest from Westwood
merchants, who wanted an organization that addressed both parking
and maintenance issues.

Under the proposal accepted by the city council, Weiss withdrew
the requirement that the BID work only on maintenance issues.

Weiss was unavailable for comment Wednesday.

According to Handal, Westwood merchants were “pleasantly
surprised” to learn of the new proposal.

Philip Gabriel, owner of Scrubs Unlimited, said he wants the
BID’s priorities to be “parking, parking, parking and
then maintenance.”

He said Westwood merchants have been considering parking supply
ideas to be implemented by the new organization.

These include subsidizing parking lot costs with BID funds,
creating a more economical validation system for both merchants and
parking lot operators and zoning for angled parking.

Gabriel said Westwood now has “the opportunity to form a
functional BID.”

The previous BID, which Weiss ended last fall, is being audited
for allegations of financial mismanagement.

According to Handal, a meeting to be held two weeks ago for the
presentation of the audit was pushed back to this Wednesday.

The announcement of the audit’s findings had already been
postponed several times.

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