One of our sayings here in the NoHo Arts District is: “NoHo is only as great as its people.” Meet the NoHo BID, they help keep our NoHo arts community clean and safe.
Do you ever wonder why NoHo streets are clean without much graffiti, why you feel safe walking the streets or how NoHo feels like a real community?
I can tell you why – the NOHO Business Improvement District. The NoHo BID works hard to ensure you can feel that way, but they just don’t brag about it. I think it is time they are recognized for their services.
The NOHO BID or Business Improvement District, is a special assessment district that provides cleaning and maintenance, security and marketing for the NoHo Arts District. It began operations in 2007. These services are funded by assessments paid by property owners in the NoHo Arts District.
Let me introduce you to Aaron Aulenta, the Managing Director who oversees the day to day operations and administration of the NOHO BID. We asked Aaron what he feels is the BID’s greatest achievements. “The BID has played a crucial role in laying the groundwork for new businesses coming to NoHo and keeping existing businesses satisfied with the area. That means keeping the district clean, safe and continuously marketing the area said Aaron.
Captain Lambert oversees the BID Safety Ambassador team (the people with yellow shirts on bikes). Ambassadors are the “Boots on the Ground” handling an array of problems from directing traffic during an car accident to giving out directions to tourists to moving along an over aggressive panhandler to calling an ambulance for someone in need and this is only a few things Ambassadors do to improve the quality of life in NoHo for businesses, locals and visitors. In 2017, Ambassadors made contact with 1,131 transients/homeless individuals, assisted 141 people for public assistance, not to mention the 6,393 contacts with merchants for a variety of reasons. Lets put a face on these stats.
Two Ambassadors found a man extremely nervous screaming for “Tristen” which turned out to be his eight year old son who was missing for the past four hours. Ambassadors called the police and together ambassadors/police combed the streets of NoHo for the boy and eventually found him and brought him back to his very grateful Dad.
An Ambassador heard a cat crying from under a hood of a car. He went to the nearby dance studio and the owner of the car was taking a class and immediately came out to unlock the car. The Ambassador and a few firefighters who by accident stopped to assist the ambassador used their water extinguisher to get the cat out. The best part of the story was the owner of that car adopted the kitten.
Also, when you see people with a cleaning cart picking up trash in 90 degree weather, you know that is the BID. Now lets talk about a “CLEAN” NoHo. The best way to show what the BID accomplishes is to show you the 2017 year-end statistics. In 2017, the Clean Team removed 1,229 graffiti tags, 1,930 bulky items, 249 were mattresses, and picked upt 113 lbs of trash. I can’t imagine what NOHO would look like with this amount of trash on its streets.
Last but not least, the BID has worked with nohoartsdistrict.com since their inception on a variety of marketing projects from coordinating events, creating the district brand (logo/street pole banners, promotional videos) and my favorite project, the NOHO card and app which has successfully ran for 10 years.
Make sure you download the NoHo Card app for discounts from your local businesses. It makes it easier to enjoy NoHo even more.
So now that you know what the NOHO BID does, next time you see an Ambassador or Cleaning crew, please give them a smile or simple thank you.
**** For information on Los Angeles theatre, tickets to theatre in North Hollywood’s NoHo Arts District, theatre reviews, the NoHo Event Calendar, restaurants, news and local businesses in NoHo, or anything and everything about the NoHo Arts Community, bookmark nohoartsdistrict.com. Follow us on Twitter @OfficialNoHo. On Instagram @NoHoArtsDistrict and Facebook @NoHoArtsDistrict.
The safety ambassador sucks. I watch people who are disgusting with body odor just walk down the street where the good white and black people are eating. There’s a whole much of graffiti in NOHO so idk what you talking about. The ambassador don’t walk. I don’t think they can walk or run. They don’t need to be riding up and down the street the need to post up and walk or run on patrol. Then again who cares about my opinion.