Crime Plunges 50% in Hollywood Target Area

The creation of the Hollywood Business Improvement District in a six-block area has cut crime 50%, helping attract business back to Hollywood, civic and business leaders said Friday.

Kerry Morrison, executive director of the Hollywood Entertainment District, says security officers hired by the improvement district three months ago are targeting “nuisance crimes, including panhandling, trespassing, drug-related activities--things that ordinarily might not appear on the radar scope. But when you address these smaller issues, you also lower the more serious crimes.”

Valerie Munoz, crime analyst for the Los Angeles Police Department’s Hollywood Division, confirmed the drop. She said that in the improvement district, aggravated assaults and vehicle break-ins were down two-thirds in the second quarter of 1997 compared to the same period last year, and robberies were down 25%. By contrast, Munoz said, “hard crime” in Hollywood as a whole is down 20%.

Much of the reason for the striking drop in the improvement district is that merchants there hired a relatively large security force to cover a fairly compact area, Munoz said.

The improvement district was formed six months ago with a five-year goal that Morrison described as changing “the seedy image of Hollywood, attracting new, upscale retail businesses and restaurants.”

The district runs along Hollywood Boulevard, from La Brea Avenue to McCadden Place and includes surrounding side streets. Forty local property owners contribute to a $600,000 annual budget.

Jeff Edell, president of Sound DeLux Entertainment Group, said that until a few months ago, his company had planned to abandon its Hollywood Boulevard headquarters for a Westside site, but the dramatic turnaround caused the firm to change plans.

“Before, many of our women employees felt insecure walking to their cars, parked behind the Galaxy Theater, late at night,” he said. The improvement district’s highly visible security has greatly reduced employee fears, he said.

As a result, Sound DeLux has signed a lease expanding its headquarters to a 50,000-square-foot facility and will keep 200 jobs there. The firm is also building an outdoor steel mural, which it hopes will become a Hollywood landmark.

Edell said that improvement district meetings, once sparsely attended, have attracted representatives from numerous entertainment companies.

“Hollywood’s the only place left now where the prices are not through the roof,” he said. “So, we’ve decided to make a greater investment here to see what would happen.”