HOLLYWOOD—East Hollywood Groups Push BIDs

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Based on the success of other business improvement districts in the area, groups are pushing for similar zones in East Hollywood and along Sunset Boulevard.

The campaign is being spearheaded by officials from Kaiser Permanente Medical Center and Ramada Hotel-Hollywood, who have hired a consultant to canvass East Hollywood business owners to determine their interest in paying an assessment for maintenance and beautification services.

“We would like to see some overall beautification of the area, with storefronts fixed up and greenery added,” said Pamela Dean, director of public affairs at Kaiser.

An East Hollywood district would run along Vermont Avenue, bounded by Hollywood Boulevard and Melrose Avenue, and Hollywood Boulevard from Vermont to its intersection with Sunset Boulevard.

Proposed boundaries for what’s being called a Central Hollywood Coalition business improvement district are Sunset Boulevard from McCadden Place to Gower Street and Vine Street from Selma Avenue to Santa Monica Boulevard.

Todd Lindgren, director of government affairs at the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, said East Hollywood and Sunset Boulevard have suffered because of the success of the existing business improvement districts.

“A lot of the elements that were pushed out of the other BIDs wound up in their neighborhoods,” Lindgren said. “We’re talking about the homeless, the drugs, the prostitution.”

Chamber President Leron Gubler said the two established districts already have been integral in the community’s recovery. The 82 percent approval among property owners in the Hollywood Entertainment District at a recent renewal vote proves they work, Gubler said.

These explorations of business improvement districts are not the first for either area. Gubler said a group of Sunset Boulevard businesses investigated the issue three years ago, but the effort fell apart.

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