Broxton Pedestrian Plaza

Green Space, Park Access, and Trees

West LA

Expand existing project, program, or initiative

Westwood Village should be a walking paradise; making the Village safe and easy to walk around would be a boon to restaurants and small businesses. The Village has a 32% vacancy rate - the current setup optimized for cars isn't working. Westwood Bl, Weyburn Ave, Tiverton Ave, and Le Conte Ave are all on the City of LA's High Injury Network (the 6% of streets where 70% of injuries/deaths occur). Foot traffic to businesses in the Village would increase dramatically if people felt safer getting around, and more people would choose to walk over drive to avoid the stress of looking for parking.

Public spaces are an important asset to our cities. They provide people many opportunities to come together and engage with the community. If public spaces are successful they are inclusive of the diversity of groups present in our cities and create a social space for everyone in the society to participate in. Many scholars in human geography have explored this idea of 'sociality' in the public sphere. It is basically the interactions people have in the public space and about the connection this forms between the person and the space. This might include the social networks people form on the street or city squares. Creating an opportunity for people to meet new people in the public space is important because this adds to the sociability of public space. Having social events in the public space such as music concerts or hosting movies are also a great way to get people to engage with one another. This creates an intricate connection between the space and the people in it forming a sense of 'togetherness' in the space. The WVIA is seeking grant funding support for enhancements and activations of the Broxton Plaza at Westwood Village, located on Broxton Avenue between Weyburn Avenue and Kinross Avenue. The Broxton Plaza will provide the Westwood Village community with a sense of space, offering a place to gather.

Expanded public spaces can calm traffic and increase safety for people who walk, bike, and take transit. These projects also encourage increased levels of walking and bicycling, all the while supporting economic vitality. Pedestrian-centered activity is shown to foster a greater sense of community, and local businesses benefit as more pedestrians frequent neighborhoods that accommodate them. Communities can transform underused areas of L.A.'s largest public asset-our 7,500 miles of city streets-into active, vibrant, and accessible public space with People St, a program of the City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT). People St is the culmination of many years of cooperation and collaboration between community groups, elected officials, City staff, and other nongovernmental organizations to broaden capacity for innovative urban design at the neighborhood level.

Eligible Community Partners can apply for approval to create projects that enhance the quality of life in our city. People St projects can be completed in months, not years, and for thousands of dollars instead of hundreds of thousands. The projects are permitted for a year with the option to renew-it is hoped that community support will be so strong that residents will work with the city and local elected officials to make them permanent or seek future capital-intensive, corridor-level urban design improvements. By physically and contextually demonstrating the benefits of capturing street space for public space, these projects can, in turn, attract, expedite, and foster future investment in infrastructure that better provides for people walking, bicycling, and accessing transit.