California Apparel News

The fight over management of the Los Angeles Fashion District appears to have come down to a compromise, which may result in the creation of two separate Business Improvement Districts.

If the proposal comes to fruition, it would be an unprecedented move for the 12-year-old area of downtown. The nonprofit Los Angeles Fashion District Business Improvement District provides sanitation, security and marketing/promotional services for property owners in the 110-square-block area. The district comprises mostly wholesale apparel and textile showrooms as well as retail stores whose landlords fund the BID. The BID goes up for renewal every five years, and this time around, just like last time, it has been met by opposition.

A group of property owners along Santee Alley and Maple and San Pedro streets is pressing for a new, smaller fashion district, which would not include the recent influx of residential properties. They also are calling for a more proportionate share of marketing dollars to promote fashion and the apparel industry along their area, located east of Los Angeles Street.

Their concerns apparently have not been appeased, so both groups are proceeding with plans to redraw boundaries and create their separate organizations.

“This is a grass-roots effort, and we think the current fashion district has lost its roots,” said Marco li Mandri, a consultant working with the proposed Garment District BID. Li Mandri is president of San Diego–based New City America, an organization that has formed close to 50 new BIDs around the state.

He said the group wants a smaller district of about 55 to 60 square blocks rather than 110, so it can be more easily managed and more focused on fashion.

“If you look at the New York City garment district, they’ve just added three new hotels,” he said. “It’s become so big. They need to consolidate. This situation is similar.”

The current BID has been stalled in efforts to renew its charter for the next five years. It currently has only about 35 percent approval from property owners and needs more than 50 percent.

Fashion District Executive Director Kent Smith said he thinks the BID can top the 50 percent level. He conceded that, if needed, the BID would agree to live alongside the other group rather than letting the BID go dark on Jan. 1, 2009, which would leave property owners with no services. Smith said there is no official deadline to submit petitions, but in order for the city to act on the BID renewal, it would have to be done within the coming weeks.

The diverging opinions over managing the district actually began five years ago during the last renewal period. A number of representatives from the opposing businesses joined the board of directors, but they are still concerned about management of the district. Smith said the main bone of contention is over marketing these businesses, which comprise wholesale showrooms and stores.

“The bottom line is that 80 percent of the budget is spent on [the] Clean and Safe [team],” Smith said. “We pick up seven tons of trash a day. We’ve issued 5,000 graffiti tags and 22,000 location checks a year.”

By the time the district’s $3 million budget gets down to the marketing allocations, there’s only about 10 percent left.

Organizers of the Garment District BID include more than 30 longtime property owners, including Moshe Aflalo, Peter Flemening of City Produce, Saeed Farkhondepour and Michael Delijani.

Attorney Steve Barnhill, representing the Garment District BID, said he has yet to be presented with any proposal of presenting two BIDs to the city. He said he is proceeding with the group to draft plans. The first with a plan and petition approval presented to the city would be recognized as the Fashion District’s BID, he said, citing explanations from city officials. —Robert McAllister