Village Business District Leaders Discuss Beautification Plans

By ERIKA MARTIN | Reporter

The Palisades Business Improvement District (BID), which oversees tax-funded improvements in the Village, held its monthly meeting Wednesday, March 2.

The group discussed its plans to contract a power washer to clean up the downtown area’s sidewalks as well as ideas for outdoor holiday decor.

The group received its first payment from the city, about $45,000, and expects $142,000 from the city total. Board President Elliot Zorensky said another $12,000 should arrive within the next three weeks.

This will allow the BID to operate while still paying back its seed loans, the remainder of which amounts to between $8,000 and $11,000 and must be paid this year.

In regard to the previously discussed matter of trespass authorizations, Director Laurie Sale said she is trying to collect the forms from each business owner in the BID.

This will allow law enforcement to remove any unauthorized individuals on the property after business hours. (For more on trespass authorizations, see the Feb. 11 issue of the Post.)

Although the BID has an existing contract with Chrysalis to fund sidewalk sweeping and trash pick-up, it is soliciting bids for a power washing contract to give walkways a deep clean.

So far, two have been received—one from a company called SuperClean, which uses recycled water, for $12,500 and another for $5,000 from a company named Spectrum, for whom the BID would have to supply water.

SuperClean has already come to the Palisades to exhibit an example of its work, and Zorensky said he was satisfied.

“We made crystal clear what we’re trying to achieve with this,” he said. “We walked out to look at it and you can really see that they get a lot of the gunk off.”

The board hopes to receive more bids and see samples of all candidates’ work before making a decision but gave Zorensky and Sale the authorization to enter a one-time contract for up to $12,500.

The group hopes the sidewalks will eventually be washed twice a year, at the beginning of January and after July 4, but must vote on a supplier and dates before anything is official.

The group may approach other businesses in the district with patios that are behind the property line to help cover the power washing cost.

“If it’s inches, we’ll probably just take care of that. But if it’s six or eight feet and the patio is not cleaned regularly, we’re going to look much better than they do,” Zorensky said, citing Coffee Bean and Robek’s as examples. “While he’s here doing it, it would be less expensive than them contracting to have it done and paying for a four-hour minimum.”

Board member Joyce Brunelle, who is on the group’s Holiday Decorating Committee, discussed the group’s proposals for upcoming festivities. For the Fourth of July parade, the BID hopes to have its own float, the design of which would incorporate recycling bins and trashcans.

“It would be the last float of the parade with a big sign asking people to please step forward to throw their trash in,” Brunelle said.

The BID also hopes to light up Sunset Boulevard during the Christmas season and display “Happy Holidays” signs on lampposts and a banner across Sunset, Brunelle said, with the largest concerns being acquiring permits and sign cost.