AUTO DEALERS PROPOSE BOULEVARD OF BUSINESS.

Byline: Deborah Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer

When Van Nuys auto dealers learned that city seed money for business improvement districts had run dry, they took matters in their own hands, collectively pitching in $17,000 to form a district they're calling Van Nuys Auto Row.

Their efforts attracted the kind of city assistance they had been told was unavailable: Los Angeles City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski found an additional $30,000 that she thinks can be transferred to the Van Nuys plan.

The push by Van Nuys auto dealers to create and finance a business improvement district is exactly the type of community leadership that led Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan to propose a $1 million federal Targeted Neighborhood Initiative grant for business and community development - which a pair of City Council committees slashed down to $300,000 on Friday.

Still, Van Nuys auto merchants are moving ahead with a project they hope will jump-start revitalization throughout the community.

The seed money they contributed will be used to create a self-assessment district on about 15 blocks of Van Nuys Boulevard between Calvert and Magnolia streets. The district would then fund a marketing campaign to put Van Nuys back on the map of Southern California car culture.

``The benefits are to bring back the luster and the glory that Van Nuys Boulevard used to mean across the United States,'' said Mark Sellz, general manager of Valley Dodge and Subaru.

Improvements envisioned for the Auto Row include colorful banners, monument signs, a catchy logo and freeway markers to help visitors find the district, said Mid-Valley Chamber of Commerce President-elect Robert Lamishaw. The district might sponsor holiday parades, or hold parties to unveil new auto models each year, he said.

``The chamber views this as the southern anchor for Van Nuys Boulevard,'' with the General Motors site as the northern anchor and the soon-to-be renovated Civic Center as the eastern mooring, Lamishaw said.

``We hope that with these three things working together, we'll be able to stimulate the businesses between there,'' he said.

Civic activity lures city money

The auto dealers contribution of money is just one of numerous examples, big and small, of Van Nuys' thriving civic spirit. Annual neighborhood cleanups, ``business watch'' programs to help merchants avoid crime problems, and educational partnerships between businesses and local schools, are just a few of those, said businessman Flip Smith.

That flurry of civic activity has won support from several local officials. Councilman Joel Wachs recently arranged to sell a used city van for $1 to a group of residents who fight graffiti in the Van Nuys and Panorama City areas. Miscikowski is helping with the business district and other projects. And Mayor Richard Riordan proposed adding Van Nuys to the city's list of TNIs.

Riordan spokeswoman Noelia Rodriquez said the mayor views the proposed $1 million a year to Van Nuys as a sound investment.

``It's easy to find the money,'' she said. ``It's not so easy to find the leadership. So when communities stand together, the money will follow.''

In the case of the business improvement district, however, the money lagged a bit behind.

Raising their own funds

The city fund, which provides up to $75,000 to communities wishing to form business improvement districts, had been expended months before. And the dealers weren't willing to wait for the council to appropriate more sometime later this year.

Instead, a dozen dealers and other local business people committed to contribute $500 to $4,000 each to get the district in gear.

Miscikowski was impressed by their initiative, and after doing some research, found $30,000 that had been slated for a proposed district in Brentwood that never formed, leaving the funds unclaimed. Miscikowski said she hopes to transfer that money to Van Nuys.

``It's putting good money where people have already shown that they have the initiative,'' she said.

To form the district, proponents must gain approval from property owners representing 51 percent of the value on that stretch of the boulevard. Proponents are hopeful they can wrap it up in six months or less.

While neighboring merchants to the north of Calvert Street applaud those efforts, some wonder why the district's proposed boundaries leave them out of the loop.

``I think it's a great concept, but I think all of us should have been included,'' said Rick Stanoff, owner of the Country General Store on Van Nuys Boulevard, just a few blocks north of where the proposed district stops.

``There's no question that if they want this community to be successful, they have to be more inclusive of the business owners in the area,'' said Dan Warshauer, president of DW Interiors, a flooring store on Van Nuys Boulevard. ``Nobody ever came to us and even questioned us about participating in it.''

However, nothing prohibits business or property owners north of Calvert from forming their own business improvement district, or asking the auto dealers to extend the boundaries of theirs.

Judy Talavera, owner of La Tia Judy, a Peruvian restaurant a few blocks further north, said the district sounds like a good idea that could bring back the shoppers and diners her business needs to thrive. But her landlord lives in San Diego and she's unsure whether he would buy into it.

That's the obstacle to organizing the northern part of Van Nuys Boulevard, Lamishaw said.

``The problem with the area north of the Civic Center is that there are a large number of small property owners, often absentee property owners, and very small businesses,'' he said. ``It's difficult in an area like that to build the consensus among people to tax themselves more than they already are paying.''

In contrast, he said, the Auto Row consists of relatively few property owners who already shared common interests and enthusiasm for the project, allowing for quick formation of the Auto Row. The district, if successful, could be a model to be replicated along the entire boulevard, he said.

``The intention is that this will help to act as a catalyst to stimulate the formation of additional business improvement districts further north on Van Nuys Boulevard,'' Lamishaw said.

CAPTION(S):

4 Photos, map

PHOTO (1 -- color) Flip Smith, who helped landscape Sepulveda Boulevard, wants to see the same on Van Nuys.

(2 -- color) Judy Talavera, owner of the La Tia Judy Peruvian restaurant, supports recent efforts to make Van Nuys Boulevard more attractive.

(3 -- color) Welcome to Van Nuys

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News

(4) Mark Sellz of Valley Dodge and Subaru is part of a campaign to form a Van Nuys Boulevard Auto Row.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News

MAP: Improving Van Nuys