Mid Valley Chamber Nudges Along Street Upgrades By JACQUELINE FOX Staff Reporter The Mid Valley Chamber of Commerce is focusing heavily this year on Van Nuys Boulevard and the adjacent downtown corridor an area that has also caught the attention of one of the Valley’s newest advocates at City Hall: Councilwoman Ruth Galanter. Nancy Hoffman, the chamber’s CEO and executive director, said the chamber was chosen several years ago by local business owners and residents to serve as the financial administrator of federal neighborhood block grants awarded to the area under then-Mayor Richard Riordan’s administration. The funds, to be parceled out in stages, are earmarked for the design and construction of four Van Nuys Boulevard medians between Van Owen Street and Victory Boulevard. The chamber will receive approximately $112,000 in its 2003-04 fiscal year, and about the same amount the following year. Hoffman said she expects the first targeted median to be for the stretch of Van Nuys between Hartland Street and Victory. “This whole project is about improving the business image along the boulevard and the Van Nuys business corridor,” Hoffman said. She added that the city’s community development department, which oversees distribution of the funding, has hit some roadblocks in moving the money along, and there was some concern the chamber wouldn’t get the first installment of funding before a March 31 deadline. Nonetheless, the chamber has filed for an extension and now anticipates the first median to be in place by mid-summer. Meanwhile, according to Hoffman, much of the movement on this long-awaited project is due in large part to Galanter, who has done a great deal since last summer to address concerns about blight in the area. Her staff, according to Hoffman, has been instrumental in setting up meetings for the chamber with city officials in the effort to clear the way for the block grants to be released. Galanter has also secured both dollars and resources for other projects in her Valley district, which she only began representing in the summer of 2002. Galanter, who will leave office when her current term expires in March, began representing the mid-Valley district an area she was previously unfamiliar with only after redistricting pushed her out of the Westside district she had represented for many years. She has received city council approval for funds to build a new civic plaza at the Valley Government Center in Van Nuys. Groups Help in Different Ways Here’s a sampling of what’s going on at some of the other chambers of commerce in the San Fernando Valley: The Montrose-Verdugo City Chamber of Commerce has appointed two representatives from its 285-member roster to a recently formed business development committee to obtain funding from the city of Glendale for business improvement issues along Honolulu Avenue in Montrose. The committee wants to hire a business consultant to identify the best types of businesses for the area, which has suffered from several long-standing commercial vacancies over the last year. Other funds would be used to make improvements to facades at existing businesses. The Pacoima, Sun Valley and Sylmar chambers of commerce have used a $150,000 grant from the city of Los Angeles for a joint master plan expected this spring on improvements in each of the three areas. The three chambers each pooled their share of the grant money $50,000 apiece for the study, due in March. The final plan may include a centralized “tri-cities” commercial shopping complex. The Studio City Chamber of Commerce is seeking $20,000 to $30,000 in funding for an enhanced directory of businesses and residents. The new directory will offer more detailed statistics for existing business owners in the area and those thinking of coming to the area. Expanded listings of local school test scores and rankings, for example, will also be included in the new guide to help new or potential residents learn more about the area as a place to live and raise children. The guide is expected to be completed by July.
