Westwood BID recap – Sept. 17

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 Los Angeles could not provide. Its board of directors meets monthly.

• Executive Director Andrew Thomas said the Los Angeles Department of Transportation is currently making dynamic signs that would be placed around Westwood Village to show the number of open parking spaces.
• Deena Spicer, senior vice president of administration for Wescom Credit Union, said it will open a new location in Westwood Village by the second quarter of next year.
• Liza White, a Westwood resident, said the League of Women Voters is celebrating its 95th anniversary and will host a celebration and fundraiser at UCLA and Westwood Village on Nov. 8. She asked if the BID can ask merchants to donate to the League of Women Voters.
• Sandy Brown, president of the Holmby Westwood Property Owners Association, asked in a public comment for the BID to take action against a project that would remove trees on Westwood Boulevard south of Wilshire Boulevard, which she claims are not damaging the street.
• Steve Sann, chair of the Westwood Community Council, said in a public comment that he filed an appeal against Target for not keeping homeless individuals off the benches it puts in front of its store. Sann said BID officials did not want to take action against the matter.
• Chair Jessica Dabney said they are working with the nonprofit organization People Assisting The Homeless to make a priority list of 10 homeless individuals so they can help them.
• The board unanimously elected both Patrick Nally of Tishman Speyer, the company that owns the building on the southwest corner of Westwood and Wilshire boulevards, and Kevin Kemp of Whole Foods Market to the board of directors.
• The board unanimously approved to engage in a graduate class that architect John Kaliski will teach in the winter about the Westwood Village Specific Plan, and to listen to recommendations students make after studying the plan. The BID would not pay for the class.

Compiled by Roberto Luna Jr., Bruin senior staff.