Community Leader Says Time Is Ripe for Reseda’s Turnaround
Tom Hilborn, president of the Reseda Chamber of Commerce and the owner of an auto upholstery shop on Reseda Boulevard, has helped form a group called the Reseda Business and Community Alliance (formerly Renew Reseda.)
The organization is counting on an infusion of federal earthquake relief funds and the expiration this month of an ordinance, which blocked certain kinds of businesses on 24 blocks, to boost redevelopment in the area.
Hilborn was interviewed by Times correspondent Jill Leovy.
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Question: What is the point of Renew Reseda?
Answer: It’s about revitalizing Reseda. Many cities throughout the country are going through similar processes, trying to get older communities back on their feet. We have put together a group that has members affiliated with the City Council, the city Planning Department, the business community, the schools, the KYDS (Keep Youth Doing Something) program, Kiwanis, police. We have met twice so far.
One of our ultimate goals is renovating old buildings to attract more businesses. For people to want to relocate into an area, it has to be a safe, clean, presentable area. Image is the main component, though there are other factors, like bringing a couple of anchor businesses into the area and bringing in some entertainment for nighttime.
Q. What’s wrong with Reseda now?
A. The worst thing is the number of vacant buildings you see. Vacant buildings lead to the decay of a community. When you see the vacant buildings, then the graffiti pops up and it looks like an area people just want to drive through as quickly as possible.
The last three years have been extremely difficult. To give you an idea, just in driving by the Reseda business corridor--around Reseda Boulevard and Sherman Way--there were visibly 70 vacant buildings before the earthquake. We are talking business spaces that were available, and buildings that had been boarded up. Now we have well over 100. And that we feel will be climbing before it turns around.
Back in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s, Reseda was wonderful. It was new, it was safe. The landlords were very involved in the upkeep of their properties. As we progressed into the ‘80s, they found they could rent anything at any price and just let them deteriorate.
Now Reseda has a problem similar to a lot of small towns--safety. How can you run a business community or a community in general where you don’t feel safe at night?
Q. What caused that decline?
A. The recession. If you look at the businesses up and down the streets in Reseda, you see a lot of mom-and-pop businesses. They are not as recession-proof as many businesses that have large capital backing.
We are similar to the whole Valley with the downturn in the aeronautics industry. Reseda has been hit very hard.
The other thing has been the Interim Control Ordinance. It’s so restrictive. Businesses that wanted to expand haven’t been able to expand, so they moved on. It’s had a lot of negative effects. It’s one of the reasons Reseda has gone downhill.
There are some silver linings, though. We have a tremendous amount of automotive businesses which have done pretty well here. There are also a lot of doctors in Reseda--I’ve counted over 100 doctors’ offices here.
Q. Can you describe the kind of area you want Reseda to become?
A. A vital community is a community where people feel safe to shop, with a nice, clean, presentable look to it, where there is some type of theme, like a ‘50s theme or a gaslight district or a Western theme--something to make it special. Plus we need anchor stores and possibility a multiscreen movie theater.
It would be nice to incorporate sort of an Old Town Pasadena look, where the building fronts would reflect a common theme, common colors. Taking away a lot of the visual clutter here would be a good start.
My dream would be a place where families could walk down and shop day or night without really worrying, and feeling very safe. I dream a lot. I admit that.
Q. Do you really think these things are very realistic? Isn’t it really market forces that determine how an area develops?
A. Market forces are affected by marketability. And that’s what the focus of our game plan has got to be: attracting businesses into Reseda. Is it a tough process? It’s not easy. Does that mean we shouldn’t try? No.
I get a lot of feedback like that. People say, “Don’t bother. Let it go to hell. Who cares?” The bottom line is, at some point you have to care. At some point you’ve got to go against the odds and say, “Hey, let’s try to change things.”
And, you know, Reseda is actually poised for this. It’s at the best place it’s been for the last decade at least for revitalization.
Reseda was steadily going downhill. Everyone just basically said to hell with it.
Then, all of a sudden we are at the epicenter of this massive earthquake. That’s forced a lot of the landlords and the businesses that are currently here to make a decision. We can’t go on as it was. We are at a crossroads.
A year from now, Reseda will either be a whole lot better or a whole lot worse, but it will not be the same.
Q. What makes you think Reseda is in a position to improve?
A. Reseda has some real advantages. We are one of the most heavily traveled areas on the grid of Valley streets. On Sherman Way and Reseda Boulevard, we average about 86,000 cars per day.
And Reseda is a very interesting community. We have approximately 27 different ethnic groups represented here, and about 67 different dialects are spoken. A lot of people who have come into this country from other countries start off their businesses here.
We have a Business Watch, which we just started in November. In our newsletter, we already cover four languages: Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese and English.
There is a lot of resistance to these changes. A lot of the older community remembers how it was years ago. It was suburbia. This was your typical white, middle-class suburb. They want to go back to that. We have to say: “Wake up, that is gone. You have to start working with what you have here.”
That’s why we talk a lot about working with the people who live here, and that’s why I stress that ethnic diversity is a plus. It’s very intentional because we need to break down those barriers.
Q. What is Renew Reseda doing?
A. We are trying to involve the community. We are going to be sending out a survey to the business community, and later to homeowners, asking input on establishing a theme for Reseda and asking what their major problems are.
Once the theme evolves, we are thinking of trying to get a unification of colors to dissipate the visual clutter.
We are also putting together some grant requests. We are working with city officials. One way you attract business is by giving them an incentive, a game plan, a purpose to come into a community. So we are looking into options of tax incentives or low-interest loans to start a businesses here.
Q. Will it require an initial large investment of public money to bring new businesses into Reseda?
A. I can’t give you the specifics on that honestly right now. We have got some new (street) medians going in, and we are looking at lighting. We may want to change the lighting to an older-style, lower-profile lighting.
The magic of Reseda is that many places like this would take a fortune to turn around because they are so huge. Reseda is relatively small. The city can test an idea here a lot more cost effectively than other places.
Q. Some of the past efforts to improve Reseda, such as the Interim Control Ordinance, have been aimed at keeping out certain businesses, like pawnshops and pool halls. Are you afraid that some of these revitalization efforts might actually discourage redevelopment?
A. That’s a concern of mine. You don’t want to stifle businesses that can make a living here, but we also want to attract other businesses into the area. I think we can do both.
The problem is really that a lot of the businesses are not maintaining themselves. There is nothing inherently wrong with thrift shops or pawnshops, as long as they keep up their buildings.
Q. What kinds of new businesses do you think Reseda could attract?
A. It depends on the theme. We could have a row of outlet stores, factory outlet stores, for example.
Food stores are doing well in Reseda. Ethnic food stores are doing very well. We might try to have a whole area where people drive for miles just to get a certain food that you can’t get anywhere else.
Q. What will happen if nothing is done to revitalize Reseda?
A. In five years? Reseda now would look like Beverly Hills compared to what it would be then. The people who have real estate investments here will lose, big time.
‘Reseda was steadily going downhill . . . Then, all of a sudden we are at the epicenter of this massive earthquake. That’s forced a lot of the landlords and the businesses that are currently here to make a decision. . . . We are at a crossroads.’
Tom Hilborn
