City council hires consulting firm to help develop new BID

David Jang
Published: Tuesday, April 8, 2003

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.