Q&A: Westwood association chair discusses past successes, future goals

Jessica Dabney, chair of the Westwood Village Improvement Association’s board of directors, has worked to better the Village since the 1970s, most notably with her involvement in the creation of the association, also known as the BID, in 2011.

The BID is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving Westwood Village, aiming to attract more visitors and better businesses. Its board of directors, which oversees the BID’s operations on a month-to-month basis, sets the organization’s annual goals and manages its finances.

Dabney, a UCLA alumna, has served as chair of the board of directors since the BID’s creation. Board members reelected Dabney for her last term as chair at their meeting last month.

The Daily Bruin’s Sierra deSousa spoke with Dabney about her impact on Westwood Village, and her plans and accomplishments as chair of the BID.

Daily Bruin: Why did you want to create the BID?

Jessica Dabney: When I first started in commercial real estate in 2002, I thought Westwood was dirty, and the landscaping was terrible. There was no lighting, more homelessness, more vacancies and no sense of community. I knew that if the community came together and worked hard and put some money behind it, Westwood could be a place that people could want to go to. So I started working with a group of people in 2006 to create a business improvement association.

I thought it was an organically beautiful and wonderful place with incredible architecture, streets that wind, fantastic resources on all sides, but I knew it could be better than it was. I had seen other neighborhoods prosper with business improvement districts and thought Westwood would thrive if it had one.

DB: What do you plan to do during your next term as chair?

JD: The business attraction and retention committee is working on ways to make Westwood more attractive. We are talking about hosting events to which we would invite potential brokers, maintaining the cleanliness and beautification of the Village, increasing the supply of parking, figuring out who ideal tenants might be and specifically going after retailers we think would add to the Village.

DB: What is the BID currently working on?

JD: Our top priority is business attraction and retention. We would like to see the Village fully leased with a balance of interesting and exciting retail stores and restaurants that will appeal to all members of the community and attract people from far away.

We’re interested in finding real ways to handle the homelessness issue. That doesn’t just mean moving them to another community, but also helping the homeless not be homeless anymore. People Assisting The Homeless, or PATH, is an incredible organization that has worked with us to place many of Westwood’s homeless people in permanent housing.

We’d like to improve the infrastructure in Westwood, which means fixing broken sidewalks and putting lighting in all the trees. We recently started a project where the utility boxes in Westwood have been covered with art, and we would love to continue with that. It’s a little ambitious, but we would like to redo all of the sidewalks in Westwood.

We have big dreams, so the BID has applied for a few grants and some private individuals have donated money.

DB: What do you consider your greatest accomplishments?

JD: Although it wasn’t just me, I consider the creation of the BID to be one of my greatest accomplishments. It was hard work, but we finally did it.

I’m tremendously proud of the comprehensive signage project the BID collectively accomplished. The signs started going up at the end of last year – they are all different, from directional to pedestrian, but it is a Village-wide signage program with the same design and theme.

DB: Why are you passionate about public service?

JD: My parents, especially my father, who owned property in the Village in the 1970s, were very involved in the Westwood community, so I follow in their footsteps. I believe passionately in the power of the person and have always felt very strongly about the importance of giving back.

DB: What is your vision for Westwood?

JD: I grew up when the streets of Westwood were so packed that you couldn’t walk up and down the streets. I think since then, the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction. I would like the Village to become more vibrant, but not to the point that it was in the ’70s and ’80s.

Compiled by Sierra deSousa, Bruin contributor.