Westwood Village Improvement Association recap – Oct. 20

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

• Andrew Thomas, executive director of the association, said the Village is replacing a water main on Westwood Boulevard. He said residents should expect construction to start next week.

• Thomas added that UCLA launched its bike-share program and that, according to a heat map from UCLA, many bikers are coming into Westwood.

• Stephanie Cohen, a representative from Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl’s office, said her office terminated a lease for a sobering center on Santa Monica Boulevard because it did not think the area was an ideal location. Cohen said the sobering center would have provided treatment and other services and for individuals with substance abuse disorders.

• Michael Beck, chair of the Parking, Access and Transportation Committee and UCLA administrative vice chancellor, said some street vendors are operating illegally in the Village. He said vendors preparing fruit in the street should have carts with at least three compartments.

• The board approved the association’s 2018 budget. Some items on the budget, including infrastructure, were cut to offset the rising cost of minimum wage workers, Thomas said. Minimum wage increased to $10.50 for nonprofits in Los Angeles in July.

• The board approved a motion to seek community input for removing a taxi zone on Lindbrook Drive. Beck said he thinks individuals are no longer using the area to get taxis and added he thinks the area could be better used for street parking.