North Westwood Neighborhood Council recap – March 4

The North Westwood Neighborhood Council is the official neighborhood council representing Westwood Village and UCLA to the Los Angeles City Council. Council meetings are open to the public and held monthly. The next meeting will be held on April 3 in Weyburn Commons Village View Room from 7-10 p.m.

Comments from public officials

• Erin Schneider, a field deputy for LA County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, said the Board of Supervisors voted to reassess the county’s approach to the incarceration of women. The board voted to hire expert consultants on gender-responsive programming for current women’s correctional facilities. The board also voted to ban the use of pepper spray at all juvenile detention facilities.

• Aneesa Andrabi, a project coordinator for Great Streets, a city initiative to transform street infrastructure projects, presented the 2019 Great Street Challenge, which is a program to remodel main road corridors across Los Angeles. Applicants can earn up to $28,000 in grants for community outreach and $500,000 for infrastructure if they are selected as one of the final four recipients.

• Andrew Thomas, the executive director of the Westwood Village Improvement Association, said the association will submit an application to Great Streets to remodel the Westwood Boulevard corridor between Wilshire Boulevard and Le Conte Avenue. Thomas added the corridor causes challenges for pedestrians, bike and scooter parking, and buses.

Reports

• The Planning and Land Use committee discussed the process to create a “People’s Plan,” which would determine what types of projects and developments stakeholders want in Westwood.

• The Transportation and Safety committee said they plan to count the number of bikes and scooters in Westwood to determine where to create new bicycle racks, which would replace parking spots on the street and add rings to attach bikes to parking meters.

• The Elections committee created and disseminated pamphlets to advertise for the NWWNC election May 16.

• The Community Activities and Projects committee pushed back a Next Friday event originally scheduled for March 8 to April 12. Next Friday is an event series that aims to spotlight local businesses, musicians and artists. The event April 12 will feature Broxton Brewery. The committee is also planning a Westwood Block Party for May 4, and another Next Friday event May 10.

• The Ad Hoc Homelessness committee discussed Bridge Housing, a program to provide temporary housing for individuals, and potential donation drives for Westwood Connect Day, a resource fair to connect people impacted by homelessness to different services. Westwood Connect Day will be held April 24 at the Westwood Recreation Center. The committee met with the Westwood Neighborhood Council, Westwood Community Council and Paul Koretz, the LA city council member for District 5 who represents Westwood and UCLA, to discuss Westwood Connect Day preparation.

• The NWWNC was voted into the Westside Regional Alliance of Councils by a vote of five to four. The four opposing votes were due to bylaw and procedure concerns.

Motions

• The council voted in support of protected bike lanes on Gayley Avenue from Wilshire Boulevard to Strathmore Drive. The proposed bike lane would impact traffic because it requires reducing the number of road lanes. The bike lane would be situated next to parked cars and have a divider to protect bicyclists from traffic.

• The council approved allocating $174 for election advertisements on three bus stops.

• The council voted to support and partner with WVIA in its efforts to apply for the Great Street Challenge. The council would help provide a list of challenges on Westwood Boulevard to the city and plan for more stakeholder engagement on the street through the Transportation and Safety committee.