Last quarter, the security team assisted the City in getting over 476 bulky items picked up, made 8 calls to the City for street services, assisted in getting 372 graffiti tags cleaned up, and 9 potholes were reported and fixed. The team responded to 174 calls for assists to the LAPD and others. They issued 14 illegal vendor warnings and assisted 166 homeless individuals; 350 illegal signs were removed. The team addressed the subject of 10 individuals drinking in public and 20 belligerent transients. The team captain attended 4 LAPD crime control meetings and attended the quarterly WC/K Business Watch meetings..

The landscape crew for the District's Wilshire streetscape continues to maintain all 15 medians and about 160 flower pots along Wilshire Blvd. The work consists of removal of trash, trimming of plants, watering of plants, repairing the sprinkler system, and replacing damaged plants.

Last quarter, the sidewalk maintenance team collected 2,859 bags of trash (65,757 lbs.), dispensed approximately 4,000 doggie bags, picked up 8 bulk items, and removed 414 graffiti tags on sidewalk pots, poles, and news racks. The crew is out every Monday and Thursday sweeping the sidewalks, picking up trash, clearing gutters and painting out graffiti from street poles, news racks, and flower planters. The team empties 59 trash cans throughout the District due to the City's reduced efforts which had led to an overflowing of the cans.

People requesting city services (pothole repair, pickup of bulky items, graffiti removal, etc.) can call 311 or access the free smart phone application, MyLA311 to take a picture of the issue and send it with a request for service.

The WCBIC staff has been working with the LAPD Olympic Station, The City Attorneys Office, DMH, LAHSA, CD 10, CES, Step Up, PATH, and others to address homelessness in the District. A key element in helping mitigate this issue is that police officers are now acting as interventionists, a critical component in getting homeless off the streets. Recently, thanks to our combined efforts, 18 people are now off the street in the Wilshire Center BID, having been placed in shelters and other supportive housing.

On Sept. 26th the Wilshire Center BID and the LAPD Olympic Division organized a Community Street Clean Up and Homeless Outreach Day in partnership with Council President Herb Wesson, UDLA, the Sunburst Academy, and PATH.

The WCBID holiday lights will be installed on November 15th along Wilshire Blvd. and stay up until January 15th.

Home Fires Are Top Disaster Risk in L.A.

\While floods, wildfires and tornadoes tend to dominate the headlines, people often underestimate the frequency and devastation caused by home fires.

"That's where the Red Cross comes in," says Jarrett Barrios, CEO, American Red Cross Los Angeles Region. "Our work doesn't end after the smoke clears — every day local volunteers are helping people to recover and get better prepared."

In 2014, the American Red Cross Los Angeles Region helped more people affected by home fires than all other disasters combined. Local volunteers worked around-the-clock to provide assistance to more than 1,700 victims of home fires with food, blankets and comfort when they had nowhere else to turn.

In addition, the local Red Cross provided financial support to more than 475 local households in the aftermath of home fires to help replace lost belongings and begin the long road to recovery. Nationally, the Red Cross responds to a disaster in the community every 8 minutes and the vast majority of these are home fires.

Curbing Deaths and Injuries from Home Fires

Because of the high number of home fires in this country, the Red Cross launched a campaign this year to reduce the number of home fire deaths and injuries by 25 percent over the next five years. The organization is asking every household in America to take two simple steps: check their existing smoke alarms and practice fire drills at home.

Since July of 2014, the American Red Cross has installed more than 1,000 smoke detectors in targeted neighborhoods. From 2009 to 2014, a portion of Koreatown – zip code 90005 – had the most home fire per capita than any neighborhood in the Los Angeles area.

Smoke detectors can save lives! On January 16, 2016, American Red Crosswill be canvassing Koreatown Neighborhoods to check home smoke detectors and replacing – for free! – the ones that do not work. For more information call Guillermo Sanchez at (310) 455-9914 or Julie Thomas at (310) 922-2046.

For more info about what the Wilshire Center BID is up to please visit us at facebook.com/wilshirecenter.

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Video highlighting much of the work that the Wilshire Center Business Improvement District does on a daily basis was presented at the last Annual Membership Meeting.

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