Sherman Oaks-Area Merchants Plagued by Signs of Success

A strip of shops and restaurants along Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks has become such a steady draw that merchants and nearby residents fondly call it the “new Melrose” or “Westwood of the Valley.”

But with growing popularity comes the mounting litter that merchants have found harder to handle.

Complaints about trash from shoppers and neighbors have prompted city officials to take sidewalk cleaning into their own hands and assess property owners for the cost.

The Los Angeles City Council earlier this month instructed city staff members to draft plans to sweep and wash sidewalks and empty trash cans there three times a week. A study of pedestrian patterns in the area led city officials to target an area on the north side of Ventura Boulevard between Cedros Avenue and Van Nuys Boulevard and on the south side between Kester Avenue and Beverly Glen Boulevard.

High Density of Shops

The section of the boulevard is only a fraction of a mile long but is crammed with boutiques, restaurants, yogurt shops, bookstores, record shops and other specialty businesses.

The cleaning may not start for a year because the city has a drawn-out bidding and public hearing process it must follow, said Jack Lu, civil engineer at the Board of Public Works.

Under state law, property owners are responsible for sidewalk maintenance, Lu said. But if they’re doing a poor job, the city by law can declare the area a special “sidewalk maintenance district” allowing it to hire a cleaning contractor and charge the cost to property owners.

Los Angeles has nine such districts already, including two in the San Fernando Valley, one in Westwood Village and one on Hollywood Boulevard near Vine Street. The assessment, which shows up on property owners’ tax bills, is calculated according to the length of sidewalk in front of their properties.

$150 to $600 a Year

Property owners in one of the Valley districts, on Van Nuys Boulevard near the Civic Center, each pay from $150 to $600 a year for twice-weekly washing, cleaning and trash collection. The fee also includes annual tree trimming.

City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky proposed the Ventura Boulevard Sidewalk Maintenance District, as it’s called, to the rest of the council after getting complaints from shoppers and residents and no cooperation from merchants, said Marlene Bronson, Yaroslavsky’s chief field deputy.

“There were some complaints that, ‘I just don’t go there anymore because it’s dirty,’ ” Bronson said. She called the council’s decision a “win-win situation” for businesses and shoppers. “It’s an effective way of keeping the area clean, and people will shop in an area that’s cleaner.”

On one recent weekday morning, a few discarded cups, aluminum cans, plastic bags and sandwich wrappers littered the sidewalk, and trash cans were about half-empty. Many of the merchants in the area said they hadn’t heard about the council’s declaration of a special district and didn’t recall getting notices from Yaroslavsky. In the battle to keep up with the mess left by pedestrians--and the litter stirred up by buses, cars and wind--they sweep their sidewalks daily, they said.

‘Pitch Black’

“If you don’t sweep every day, within three days, it’s pitch black,” said Paul Reno, manager of Antique Amusements Co.

Ruth Litt, who has owned Eddie Lewis, a women’s clothing shop, for 29 years, said her employees clean the pavement every day, but other businesses “are just disgraceful” in letting sidewalks go dirty. Customers have complained to her that the “boulevard is just dirt,” Litt said.

She and other merchants said their landlords probably will pass on the cleaning assessment in higher rents, but they would not argue with that because, as Litt said, “the whole area would look better.”

Beck Investment Co., owner of the retail and office building that houses Eddie Lewis, supports the sidewalk assessment. “We try to do our best to keep the area clean. But most of our neighbors are not doing their share,” said David Dreben, property manager for the company. “It’s a very high-traffic area. It needs professional help in keeping it clean.”

Charges Criticized

Norman Vogel, president of the Greater Sherman Oaks Chamber of Commerce, said he believes the cleanup will increase business, but he regards the assessment of costs as a measure that should be taken only as a last resort.

It comes as little surprise, however, that not all the business people are pleased with the city’s plans to pass cleanup costs on to property owners.

“What am I gonna do?” asked Le Cafe owner Dale Jaffe, who said he sweeps his sidewalks daily. “Every time someone sticks their hand in small businesses’ pockets,” he said, there is “less chance to survive. It makes me see red. It’s so damn hard to operate as it is.”

As for the culprits--the pedestrians who apparently drop most of the litter--opinions were split over whether special cleanup efforts were needed. Some said they hadn’t noticed the litter; others said the area could be cleaner.

“It’s certainly not up to what the Studio City shop owners are doing,” said Ron Lohse, a teacher at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks.

“It’s cleaner than London,” said British tourist Graeme Mathieson, who is visiting California with his family. “Americans have more civic sense. We think it’s pretty clean.”