Central Los Angeles : With New Look, It’s Now ‘Fashion District’
Get it straight, now. It’s the fashion district, not the garment district.
“We want to make it a more inviting destination,” said Marianne Giblin, executive director of the Downtown Los Angeles Property Owners Assn., “and the name change will go with a new look for the area.”
Property owners of the newly renamed district are in the process of giving the area a make-over to make it a more popular shopping zone.
The landlords have set up a business improvement district, taxing themselves to get revenues to revitalize the area. The district is the first in Los Angeles to use the financing scheme, under a law authored by Assemblyman Louis Caldera (D-Los Angeles).
The district--bounded roughly by the Santa Monica Freeway and 7th, Main and San Pedro streets--has been assessed at $2 million a year, Giblin said. The money will be used for such things as hiring “customer service ambassadors” on the streets to offer assistance ranging from how to bargain to helping people carry bags, as well as street banners, clean-up crews and security officers.
Another goal is to have Caltrans post signs on nearby freeways to publicize the district, Giblin said. A Dec. 15 parade will kick off the new approach.
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