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The Fight to Save Westwood |
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NeighborhoodsLA
By Margaret Jacob and Sandy Throop
Have you driven along Westwood Blvd recently? Parts of it are like a ghost town, shop after shop shuttered, or up for rent.
In Westwood as it is today there is no single organized group of
citizens who can address its needs or problems. That we hope is about
to change.
About two dozen of us, joined by close to 600 petition signers, have banded together to form a first-time, waiting to be certified, Neighborhood Council for Westwood.
Why a first? Every effort over the last ten years to put one into Westwood has fallen victim to a variety of impediments, among them the attempts by the leaders of the home owners’ associations to stop the council’s formation. This time we hope the outcome will be different.
Given the condition of commercial Westwood, and given the important issues facing us in transportation, traffic and condo development, partic ularly on Wilshire Blvd, a Neighborhood Council is one of the few charter-approved ways of addressing these and other problems.
Every homeowner, renter, shop keeper, student to whom we have spoken has voiced their concern and their willingness to help.
We have circulated thousands of flyers – translated into Farsi and Spanish – and walked just about every street in the area bounded by Sunset to the north, Santa Monica Blvd to the south, the 405 on the west and the Los Angeles Country Club on the east.
The diversity of Westwood is remarkable. Over on Cotner Ave, in the shadow of the 405 there is a firm that manufactures hats, complete with a show room that reminds the visitor of Harrod’s hat department in London.
On the grounds of UCLA stands one of the finest sculpture gardens in the West.
Holmby Park thrives in part because the Russian community on the Westside has made it a center for chess playing, picnics, and just hanging out.
On Westwood Blvd south of Wilshire shops offer items essential to Persian cuisine. Try basting your turkey with pomegranate concentrated juice - an item normally available only by mail order - and you can go to “Little Tehran” to find it.
Do you want to do research in social or family history LINK] in any country in the world? Then visit the Family History Center at 10741 Santa Monica Blvd (temporarily closed for remodeling) where you can do just that.
In the mean time use Fancy … a New York style Jewish deli? Go down Westwood Blvd just before Olympic.
And remember Westwood is also an entertainment center with the Hammer, the Geffen Playhouse, Royce Hall, the Freud Theatre - just about every art form can be experienced in Westwood.
Currently there is no united voice that can shape a response to plans or developments presented by the city or a developer. The homeowners’ association leaders try valiantly but they are representative of no condo owners, no renters, no students, no workers, etc.
Take the largest area, Holmby-Westwood with approximately 2000 households. Only 570 of those belong to the homeowners’ association.
The Neighborhood Council will be a step toward a representative body, open to all, and eager to take on the challenge of making Westwood vibrant and commercially viable again.
We appeal at all the Neighborhood Councils reading this article to write to DONE and endorse our certification.
More info on the Westwood Neighborhood Council: http://westwoodnc.org .
(Margaret Jacob and Sady Throop are members of the Westwood Neighborhood Council Formation Committee) ◘
CityWatch
Vol 7 Issue 92
Pub: Nov 10, 2009
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