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Council renews Hollywood Entertainment District BID amid disputes over openness and board membership
Summary
The City Council approved renewal of the Hollywood Entertainment District business improvement district after public testimony highlighted disagreements over board membership, Brown Act compliance and conflict-of-interest procedures; council approved item 12 by voice vote (14 ayes).
The Los Angeles City Council voted to continue the Hollywood Entertainment District business improvement district and approved the renewal ordinance on July 24 after public testimony from property owners and stakeholders representing both support and objections.
Property owners and managers spoke for and against renewal. Supporters — including Monica Yamada of CIM Group, Pietra Dubuque of Marangoff Equities, Joel Fisher (steering committee chair) and Carrie Morrison (executive director of the Hollywood Entertainment District Property Owners Association) — described outreach efforts, steering‑committee meetings and work to tailor boundaries and assessments. Morrison said the steering committee held roughly 20 meetings over nine months and secured more than 60% of required signatures for renewal; the committee reduced assessments on some boundary streets to 60% of the full commercial assessment to reflect limited service for people on edges of the district.
Opponents and concerned property owners urged the council to address governance and transparency issues. Several speakers asked that specific property addresses (Gower and Yacker) be removed from the BID boundary and urged conflict‑of‑interest statements and open bidding for contracts. Bernard Franklin and others noted a multi‑year legal dispute in which the appellate court concluded some BID activities were subject to the Ralph M. Brown Act; the transcript records that AB 1021 had been introduced to change that status and that the bill was "signed by Gray Davis yesterday," a fact the speakers cited in the floor presentation.
Councilmember Garcetti praised efforts to make the BID process more open and said he supported renewal conditioned on continued democratic oversight. Councilmember Pacheco used the debate to raise a citywide policy question about whether nonprofits should pay a standardized assessment rate in future BIDs. The clerk recorded the vote as 14 ayes and the renewal passed on the floor.
The council did not change the renewal ordinance text on the floor; staff and the bid steering committee will proceed with implementation and any further reviews as required by city procedures.
