South Park BID to Supplement Security and Sanitation for Downtown L.A. Neighborhood

Ted, as the new chairman of the South Park BID and a stakeholder in downtown as a senior VP with Anschutz, tell us why a BID was needed for the area.

Anshutz early on joined the South Park stakeholders as we were putting together Staples Center and acquiring adjacent properties to create a new vision for the entire district that would remove some of the incompatible and blighted land uses and put together a master plan for a comprehensive redevelopment of the area. We're seeing much of that plan implemented today in the form of significant housing investments.

Our goal from the outset was to work toward expanding the boundary of the BID program to provide for real improvements in the area, primarily with regard to maintenance and safety. That has been our focus. Mike Pfeiffer has led this process for at least the last five years now and has brought us from the early inception of this concept to where we are today, which is on the threshold of implementing it.

Mike, as the point person for this long effort, describe the boundaries of the project and what its key goals are.

The boundaries cover a roughly 22 block area: the Harbor Freeway to the west, the Santa Monica Freeway to the south, Grand Avenue to the east and either Olympic or 9th Street to the north. We will actually be adjacent to the Downtown Center BID to the north.

The objectives are to create a very clean and safe community. Our services include bicycle patrols and automobile patrols for safety. We'll also have sidewalk maintenance with uniformed, radio-equipped personnel to sweep litter and debris and refuse from the sidewalks. We'll be providing alley maintenance; street teams and sweep patrols will be patrolling some of the alleys to keep them clean and safe and to deal with illegal dumping. BID staff will also remove graffiti and do high-pressure washing. We will have a zero tolerance graffiti policy. We will also work to clean up debris and trash under freeway overpasses and will also remove paper signs and handbills. We will also have special trash collection. In addition to those security and maintenance services, we have a small amount of funding set aside for economic development programming that will allow us to improve the economy in this community. The lion's share of our resources will be used to ensure that we have a safe and clean community for the people who live, work and visit the South Park area.

Ted, let me turn back to you. One of the key questions is why do you need a BID? What happened to the City of LA's responsibility to provide clean, safe services to the neighborhoods within its boundaries?

We've had a fine relationship with LAPD over the past 5 and a half years of the operation of the Staples Center, and saying that the area needs a BID is by no means denigrating any of the public services provided by the Department of Transportation, Building and Safety or Street maintenance. The BID is meant to augment those city services and providing us with a way of increasing the levels of both security and maintenance in the area to the levels that are provided by the neighboring BIDs, such as the Fashion District BID to the east and the Downtown Center BID to the north.

Mike, what in your opinion is the vital need that BIDs are serving, and how hard is it to put a BID together?

Well the vital need is to really respond to the requests of the property owners businesses and residential centers and provide services over and above what is currently provided by the city, to enhance the cleanliness of the community and enhance the security of the community. LAPD is doing an outstanding job as are other city services. These are simply additional services provided on a regular basis.

Ted, what unites the stakeholders in the new BID? What's happening in the South Park area and what will it look like in 5 years?

We have seen some incredible increases in residential activity, including the construction of 1200 new condominium units within about 4 blocks of the Staples Center and within the boundaries of the BID. There are probably another 2500 units in active planning or the entitlement stages. Much of this planned housing is being developed by third parties, to whom we have sold property.

We are also talking to the Fashion Institute about some housing for their students as well as additional facilities for the school. We have been talking to Hanover, a Houston based developer that's building a very high end apartments. The group from Portland developed Eleven. So we're attracting a wide variety of developers and skills in this area to build a very rich and diverse product type, for what I think will be a very vibrant downtown residential neighborhood in 5 years. Of course, in addition to that, we intend to launch the construction of LA Live, the entertainment district to be located north of Staples Center, which will include a hotel with approximately 1200 rooms, live theaters, music clubs, restaurants and a variety of other entertainment venues. Our goal will be to have that all completed in late 2007, or early 2008.

Mike, the BID just had its first meeting. Can you give us an idea of what the initial tasks are for the BID?

Initially, we have two committees that are meeting next. The finance committee will be fine-tuning the budget for the balance of this year, to ensure that we live within funds that are raised for the BID. Then we have an operations committee that will be working with our contractor, the Downtown Center BID. We have decided to contract with that BID to provide the cleaning and safety services, so they will be providing our bicycle patrols and our general clean up crews and graffiti removal crews. Our operations committee will be working out plans for the employment of the staff people.

In addition to those tasks, we are also in the process of finding a new logo for the South Park BID itself. We have one for the stakeholders group, but want to have a logo for the BID that is consistent with the new LA Walk signage program that's been recently launched by the confederation of downtown associations. We are also working on outreach to make sure that every property owner in the South Park BID area knows about the programs and knows that he or she can call us at any time to bring issues to our attention that aren't dealt with on regular patrols. Essentially, we are getting geared up to deliver all of those services that we are now committed under the management plan to provide.

Ted, I can't help but ask, since you worked at the Produce Mart and at Union Station and now around the Staples/Anschutz properties, is anybody in the city or in the private sector tying all the neighborhoods and developments in the broader downtown community together?

I think the agency is attempting to do so through things like streetscape programs, better linkages through both mass transit and surface transportation. I think it's important to give neighborhoods their own identity as well as create a larger context of downtown. It comes down to making the streets more enjoyable for people to walk. I think that the DASH is a fantastic connective system for Downtown that is not utilized to its fullest capacity. But that, combined with the red line and the blue line, which already serve major portions of downtown, is creating transit areas with developments around them, making the streets in these areas more pedestrian oriented. City Planning is doing a good job of having private developers include improvements like more open space, brighter sidewalks, better and more urban street frontages as opposed to setbacks and underground retail.

What's the connection between South Park and Grand Avenue, the Palmer developments to the west and the developments on Broadway to the east? Is the whole greater than the sum of its parts?

I think so. I think what we're talking about is a much more vibrant downtown with opportunities and chances for people to own, to rent, and to create new businesses. We think it's all good; it's lifting all boats. We support the efforts of the Tom Gilmores, and pioneers like Ira Yellin. We look forward to many more joining the family of investors, developers and owners downtown.

Mike, to conclude, if there weren't a BID process would we have to create it? Is it that necessary?

I think the BIDs have demonstrated that they are providing real value to the investors, the property owners, who are investing in them. I think you can go to LAPD and hear how effective BIDs are in assisting the police department and ensuring that their communities are that much safer and more secure. The success in augmenting city services to make sure sidewalks are cleaner and trees trimmed is undeniable. We're looking forward to giving property owners in the area a good return on their investment.