Westwood BID recap – Nov. 17

The Westwood Village Improvement Association, also known as the BID, is a nonprofit organization tasked with improving the state of Westwood Village. Property and business owners created the association in 2011 to provide Westwood Village with functions the city of Los Angeles could not provide. Its board of directors meets monthly.

• Executive Director Andrew Thomas said Westwood Village will probably become a parking benefit district, pending city council approval. A percentage of street parking revenue collected in the Village would be returned to the association to fund infrastructure improvements rather than all going to a city general fund. Thomas said the city council’s transportation committee will discuss the parking district in December.

• UCLA Administrative Vice Chancellor Michael Beck, who chairs the Parking, Access and Transportation Committee, said the committee discussed earlier this month taking over maintenance in the Broxton Avenue public parking garage, advertising private parking spaces and implementing a districtwide valet service.

• Board member Denise Garcia said the Business Attraction and Retention Committee discussed city councilmember Paul Koretz’s effort to reduce the time it takes businesses to obtain permits.

• Vice Chair Jim Brooks said the city will consolidate the number of garbage pickup trucks from four to one by Jan. 1, 2018. He also said this will allow the association to install recycling containers.

• Brooks added Westwood Boulevard will receive infrastructure improvements through the Great Streets program for two weeks in March.

• Eric Geier, community relations manager for Los Angeles County Metro, gave a presentation about the Purple Line extension to Westwood. Because Measure M passed last week, the extension will be completed by 2024 instead of 2035.

• Sibyll Catalan and JoAnn Newton from the Geffen Academy gave a presentation about the new school, which will open for the 2017-2018 school year on Kinross Avenue just outside the association’s boundaries. Geffen Academy is expected to have about 620 students by 2020.

• The board voted to create a contract with Emmanuel Bautista so he can continue to operate the Westwood Village Farmers Market until July 1, 2017, as long as he gets insurance for the market.