What Is the Studio City Improvement Association?

A visitor who described himself as both a property owner and a resident popped into themeeting Monday night at the CBS Studio Center lot and said, “I just want to see what you all are all about, what is this group?”

It gave Board President Ray Franco a good chance to explain what they are all about.

“We represent about 150 property owners (and 300 businesses) in Studio City and we were first formed to help with parking and now we need to improve the sidewalks and pave the alleys,” said Franco, a Studio City resident for 47 years who has an architectural firm on Ventura Boulevard, .

The Business Improvement District is a specified area set up by the City of Los Angeles that collects a property assessment by the businesses in the area, and then the group figures out what to do with it.

In Studio City, the borders are the heart of the area, from Ventura Boulevard between Whitsett Avenue and Carpenter Avenue, Ventura Place, Ventura Court between Rhodes and Laurelgrove, Radford Avenue from Ventura Boulevard to Valleyheart Drive.

“We are a very diverse group of attorneys, bankers, deli owners, kid crafts, large property owners and small,” Franco said.

Mikayel Israyelyan, an area resident and creator of was at the meeting, and he just made the cover of Studio City Lifestyle Magazine, the local full-color glossy magazine that gets distributed for free. And, publisher of the magazine, Barry Wise, is also on the board. Lorena Parker is the executive director of the group.

“The amount of the assessment is figured by the size of the property and the amount of storefront, so it’s fair,” Franco said. “But every five years the businesses can vote whether to keep it going, and if we don’t have more than 50 percent saying yes, then we can’t go on.”

At the moment, the group has $357,653.03 and they don’t have to spend it all in one year.

The group planted 60 trees, fixed the medians in the heart of Studio City, expedited the 397-space parking garage and added more trash cans up and down the block.

The group is responsible for placing the Studio City Walk of Fame depicting movies and TV shows shot at and is creating a book about Studio City, hiring historian to write it.  (They also commissioned the video above.)

For their next big public project, they are planning a movie night in August that will be free for families if they have purchased something from a local store that day. The event will be held outdoors on the roof of the parking structure.

, owner of one of the longest-running businesses in the area, added,  “The reason for a group like this is for things like if there’s a tree that needs trimming in front of one business and one guy does it and the other one doesn’t then it looks bad. This way, it all gets done.

The group also pays regularly for pressurized sidewalk cleaning and trash pick-up.

The meetings are opened to the public and usually held at the CBS Studio lot, since the studio is the largest member of the district. They meet at 5 p.m. on the first Monday of the month, 10 times a year. The next meeting is June 6.

A new website is being launched this month, too at www.StudioCityBid.com.