Westwood Village Improvement Association recap – Sept. 19

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 will next meet Nov. 21.

Reports from the Board and Staff

• Andrew Thomas, executive director of the WVIA, said the Village will host the Westwood Village Block Party on Sunday. The annual event will allow students to connect with Westwood businesses and enjoy food and entertainment, including a Ferris wheel.

Agenda

• The board unanimously elected Kevin Crummy, chief investment officer at Douglas Emmett and former WVIA treasurer, to be the new chair of the board. The chair was previously held by Jim Brooks, former president of Topa Management Company. Crummy said he will work to acquire more private investment from local property owners to support WVIA projects. Crummy also has a seat on the North Westwood Neighborhood Council as a business stakeholder.
• The board heard presentations from Los Angeles Metro and UCLA Transportation regarding the Sepulveda Transit Corridor Project, a planned transit line connecting the San Fernando Valley with the Westside and Los Angeles International Airport. Peter Carter, deputy project manager for Metro, outlined four possible versions of the project, which included underground subways and elevated monorails. UCLA Transportation senior associate director David Karwaski said UCLA supported a version of the project that was most direct, underground and stopped in the middle of campus.
• The board voted unanimously to support a version of the Sepulveda Transit Corridor Project with three criteria. It asked that the project be underground, stop at UCLA, and connect with the planned Metro Purple Line extension. The board did not directly endorse any of the four specific proposals by Metro.