Fashion District Management Contract Up for Renewal

The Los Angeles Fashion District Business Improvement District (FDBID) contract is up for renewal, and area property owners will soon decide whether to approve the district for another five years.

Fashion District property owners will be receiving petitions in upcoming weeks and will have until April to determine whether the matter should go to a district-wide vote in May. Passage of the petition requires approval from owners representing at least 51 percent of assessed property value in the district. If that approval is obtained, a ballot vote will occur in May.

The FDBID’s contact is set to expire at the end of 2003. A renewal will maintain the security teams and public-improvement projects that the FDBID provides, as well as other services such as marketing, trash removal, graffiti abatement and code enforcement.

Property owners help fund the program, which has a 2004 budget of about $3.2 million. More than 70 percent of the budget is designated for public-space management.

Fashion District officials reported the FDBID has improved pedestrian traffic by 12.4 percent over the past two years. In addition, officials said the FDBID helped more than 200 stores open last year in the area. The FDBID’s Safe Team of security officers responded to more than 50,000 service requests last year. For more information, call (213) 488-1153. —Robert McAllister