Hotel owners demand tax refund

By Nick P. Yulico
Daily Bruin Contributor

Several Westwood business owners are outraged that they’re
not seeing a return on the extra property taxes they pay to fund
the Westwood Business Improvement District.

Owners of the Royal Palace Hotel, Hilgard House and Claremont
Hotel are now demanding a refund of their extra taxes and are
refusing to pay additional taxes for the next two years.

The BID, which is funded through these assessed taxes, was
originally created to revitalize Westwood by providing special
marketing and promotions to merchants within the village.

Some property owners said they expected these services in return
for paying the taxes, including street cleaning, extra security and
holiday decorations, but they aren’t receiving them.

“The BID is a waste of money and should be dissolved since
it is not providing the promised benefits,” said Marc
Beccaria, general manager of the Royal Palace Hotel, which is
located at 1052 Tiverton Ave.

Westwood is divided into two zones, with business owners whose
properties lie within Zone One being assessed higher taxes. At the
same time, this zone receives extra services, such as street
cleaning and holiday decorations.

But John Beccaria, owner of the Royal Palace, said he has never
received these services, though his hotel lies in Zone One.

According to Bob Walsh, executive director of the BID, these
services were never guaranteed to all streets. About 98 percent of
the streets in the zone are receiving the benefits, he cited.

John said he has not received a response to a letter he sent
last month to Kambiz Hekmat, chair of the Westwood Community
Alliance, which runs the BID.

In his letter, John stated, “This … assessment must be
seen as little more than a blatant revenue grab, taking money from
my property to provide “˜special benefits’ for other
properties elsewhere in the District, while failing to provide my
property with identical benefits. This, the law does not
permit.”

The hotel owner first brought the matter before the BID at its
July meeting, but this was not included in the minutes of the next
meeting nor is it scheduled to be discussed at Thursday’s
meeting.

“There are lots of people involved in this,” Marc
said. “They can’t get away with just ignoring
us.”

A committee has been formed to address the hotel owners’
concerns about their blocks, according to Walsh.

“These are valid concerns brought to us,” he said.
“It takes more than several weeks to address the problem. The
property owners are not being ignored. It’s an ongoing
process.”

Despite being referred to as the “Business Improvement
Disaster” in John’s letter, Walsh said he believes the
BID is helping raise investment in the community.

“Westwood revitalization will happen faster than it
happened on Third Street in Santa Monica and in Old
Pasadena,” Walsh said.