RESEDA TAKING HIGH ROAD VISION: PANEL LEADS DRIVE TO SPRUCE UP BOULEVARD WITH TALLER, MODERN BUILDINGS.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew

Staff Writer

NORTHRIDGE -- Ten years ago, shopkeepers and university professors launched a new business improvement district for aging Reseda Boulevard dubbed "Northridge Oasis -- the Cultural Center of the Valley."

But many say the district dissolved because absentee landlords never coughed up enough to maintain improvements.

Now two north San Fernando Valley neighborhood councils are collaborating to seek a new vision for the old-fashioned main street from Lassen Street to Roscoe Boulevard.

"We have a lot of restaurants, but we don't have any sidewalk cafes or outdoor dining. We have wonderful restaurants ... but where is the ambience? We have fantastic weather, but where is the dining?" said Steve Patel, chairman for the NE/W Vision Committee, founded in January.

The committee -- composed of members of the Northridge East and Northridge West neighborhood councils with input from the North Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce, Councilman Greig Smith and California State University, Northridge -- wants to plan a long-term makeover with input from residents and business owners.

Its goal: to develop a comprehensive plan to spruce up Reseda Boulevard and attract a new blend of businesses in tandem with the university's $100 million performing arts center slated to open next year.

Eventually, the committee wants to help draw the first city plan for Northridge since the mid-1970s.

"What we're doing there -- and I think it's the right way to go -- is to ask the business owners to invest in the street," said Councilman Smith, who once owned a tuxedo shop on the boulevard. "We'll create a future vision and then change the zoning to match."

A decade ago, the now-defunct business improvement district paid for trash cans, park benches and landscaping, but didn't finance the maintenance.

To pay for upkeep, the NE/W Vision Committee will request up to $5,000 from each neighborhood council while Smith looks for extra funds.

The NE/W Vision Committee will then take input from the community on how best to make over Reseda Boulevard with new architecture, shops, restaurants and mixed-use buildings within a sensible traffic plan.

Small mom-and-pop shops are nice, Smith said. But for Reseda Boulevard to prosper, its businesses must grow taller. Rezone it, he added, and private investors will build bigger better buildings and businesses.

"The future of Los Angeles is we've run out of land," he said. "We don't have a place to grow out; we must grow up."

Wayne Adelstein, who pushed for the committee, said it's vital that the city have a plan in place before a potential rush by developers.

"It's a new vision for Reseda Boulevard," said Adelstein, past president of the North Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce and a member of the NE/W Vision Committee. "It means new businesses, with new services to the community wants -- restaurants, little theaters, art galleries, night life.

"So when developers walk in, they can say, 'don't bother,' or, 'the community supports the project."'

dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com

818-713-3730

GETTING INVOLVED

To offer suggestions to the N/EW Vision Committee, contact [e-mail].

CAPTION(S):

photo, box, map

Photo:

Storefronts line Reseda Boulevard between Parthenia Street and Nordhoff Avenue.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer

Box:

GETTING INVOLVED (see text)

Map:

NE/W Vision Committee survey area