Wilshire Center District Team’s Activities and Other News

Last quarter, the District Safety Team assisted the City in getting over 480 bulky items picked up, made 131 calls to the City for street repairs, and assisted in getting 238 graffiti tags cleaned up. They reported 25 street lights that were out, which were then fixed by the City. The team responded to 23 calls for assists to the LAPD and others. They issued 101 illegal vendor warnings and assisted 29 homeless individuals.

The crew is reporting potholes daily to the Bureau of Street Services. We are encouraging others to help by using this link to report potholes: bss.lacity.org/request.htm. They can also be reported via email to bss.boss@lacity.org or by calling them in to (800) 996-CITY (2489). To learn more visit: http://bss.lacity.org. After frequent communication with our friends at Street Services, some much needed street repairs were completed at Wilshire Blvd. and St. Andrews Pl.

The landscape crew for the District’s Wilshire streetscape continues to maintain all 15 medians and about 160 flower pots along Wilshire Blvd. The work consists of removal of trash, trimming of plants, watering of plants, and repairing broken sprinklers. We are exploring adding and replacing some of the plant material over the next few months.

For the month of March, the District Clean Team collected 675 bags of trash, with a trash weight of 15,525 lbs. They removed 32 graffiti tags from sidewalk pots, poles, news racks and cleared weeds from the sidewalks at dozens of locations. The crew is out every Monday and Thursday sweeping the sidewalks, picking up trash, clearing gutters and painting out graffiti.

WCBIC staff is exploring the offer by Waste Management for a Solar-Powered trash compactor and recycling unit for a 30 day demo at the Southwest corner of Wilshire and Normandie. Each compactor has 5 times more capacity than an ordinary trash barrel. There are custom decals, silk screens, ad panels and wraps available for our District that would  assist in getting our messages out, or possible income producing opportunity (advertisement).

Last month we hosted the City-wide BID Consortium at Southwestern Law School. Special thanks to the School for providing the space for the meeting. The Consortium is working with the City on developing at set of appropriate regulations for the food truck industry.

WCBIC staff is working with the Wilshire Center / Koreatown Neighborhood Council to educate local retailers about the issue of counterfeits.

We are still working with the CRA, the Council office and DOT on the need for a left hand turning traffic light at Mariposa and Wilshire.

There is discussion with a number of community groups to redistrict this area at the State and Local level.

To all residential tenants please make arrangements to have your bulky items removed for free from the curbside;  please call 1-800-773-2489, from Monday through Friday, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:45 p.m., at least one day before the regular collection day. Bulky items are collected on the day of the regular trash collection day. For more information and on-line service Wilshire Center District Clean Team go to http://lacitysan.org.

4th Annual Wilshire Center Earth Day/Car Free Day Event

We had another successful Earth Day – Car Free Day event, which took place on the lawn at 3700 Wilshire Blvd.  Special thanks to Jamison Services for providing the space for the event. The event featured an outdoor movie screening of the director’s cut of “Avatar" on a 35 foot screen. Other features included a presentation of the Cool District’s Carbon Master Plan; face painting for the kids along with kid’s art work, community booths, ewaste recycling and free tree adoption.

Cool District Update

Cool District Program: The Carbon Master Plan is proceeding with a number of City Department and community group meetings along with the assistance of community questionnaires. We had a successful meeting with building owners and managers last month where we explained in detail the free energy assessment program. CRA/LA has made the final selection of buildings to be audited this spring. Arup has scheduled dates to visit these buildings throughout June. It is anticipated the City Council may approve the Commercial PACE program for the City of Los Angeles sometime this spring or summer. Building owners may find the PACE program a good way to finance the energy upgrades.

Our Cool District free energy assessment concept has gone City-wide. The CRA, in partnership with the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI), has announced last month the Energy Upgrade Los Angeles Commercial Building Performance Initiative, a grant funded program which will offer a suite of no-cost resources and support services to assist property owners/managers in carrying out holistic, cost-effective energy efficiency projects. We will have more access to free energy assessments and free investment grade assessments along with project financing support. Energy Upgrade LA is not yet “open for business,” but is keeping a list of interested property owners. The contact email address is: bfeingold@cra.lacity.org. The City is seeking motivated owners.

New Development Breaking Ground

JH Snyder Development Company got the City’s approval for a proposed $169 million mix-use project at the SE  corner of Wilshire and Vermont, The Vermont Project. Construction is expected to begin in early 2012. The 491,000 sq.-ft. project includes two towers, 464 apartments, a public plaza and park, 27,000 square feet of retail space, 14,000 square feet of restaurant space and 913 parking spaces. The CRA/LA will provide a $5 million loan toward project construction, and reinvest another $12.5 million in site-specific property taxes generated in coming years by the development. The developer has agreed to partner with an area non-profit organization to build 96 affordable-housing units in projects around the area.

CRA WC/K Project Area

The CRA/LA successfully applied for $10 million in State Prop 84 funding for open space projects at Wilshire and  Hoover and at Wilshire and Hobart. The acquisition and development of these future public parks will require an estimated $4 million in CRA/LA funds. There are sufficient funds in the WC/K Project Area FY11 Budget to cover these costs. CRA staff is looking at the Postal Service parking lot on Kingsley near 6th Street as a possible park location and will be applying for Prop 84 funds to pursue this project.

CRA status: L.A. City Council locked in $930 million in redevelopment money. This act by the City Council will enable CRA to continue its work within our communities.

Community Events

The 2nd Night Out for a Safer Community was held on May 17th at the corner of 8th and Vermont. The purpose of this Night Out was to help residents get to know their neighbors and to join with political representatives and the officers of LAPD Olympic Division to regain control of their community.

The next Wilshire Center Business Watch meeting will be held on June 16th at 12PM at 3424 Wilshire Blvd. in the El Camino Real Room, 5th Floor.

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