Separate ‘Streetscapes’ Projects Supported

A Ventura Boulevard landscaping program would be carried out as five separate projects tailored to individual communities along the boulevard--rather than as one plan--under a proposal backed by a citizens group that is studying the issue.

The proposal by the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan Review Board calls for the city to establish five nonprofit organizations to implement the “Streetscapes” program--one for each of the communities along Ventura Boulevard from Woodland Hills to Studio City. Each organization, which would essentially be a management association, would appoint its own executive director.

This concept, which some believe will lead to a more successful campaign to spruce up the boulevard, was just one of the lessons gleaned by the Plan Review Board at a meeting last month with officials responsible for managing the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, Old Town Pasadena and Downtown Burbank.

Jeff Brain, Plan Review Board chairman, said he agreed with those managers’ opinion that the 17-mile Ventura Boulevard project area is too long for one management association and one executive director to manage. Having only one executive director leaves that person open to accusations of favoring one community over another, Brain added.