DEAR DOWNTOWN STAKEHOLDER

Downtown Los Angeles began 2022 amidst California’s biggest COVID outbreak and ended it with much of the market – and more importantly the community – well on the way to recovery. Despite lingering pandemic effects – ranging from significantly reduced office occupancy to troubling public safety considerations – residential occupancy had surpassed pre-pandemic highs at 94%, hotel occupancy was near its 2019 levels, and overall visitation was hovering around the 10 million visits per month mark it had maintained prior to 2020. Throughout the year, with unwavering focus, the Downtown Center Business Improvement District (DCBID) provided core services – from security and maintenance to marketing and economic development – to keep the district safe, clean, and vibrant as it reemerged from almost three years of crisis. The BID’s services have helped Downtown Center property owners recover and revitalize through several difficult periods over the almost 25 years of the organization’s existence, and this time will be no exception.

Our Safe & Clean team maintained their steadfast commitment to the highest standards of sanitation and security across the 65-block District, 24/7, focusing on increased and enhanced cleaning initiatives and patrols to make the city sidewalks welcoming and secure for those who live, work, play, and visit in DTLA. In 2022, they responded to over 12,214 calls for service, and removed over 110,336 bags of trash and over 73,342 instances of graffiti. Our Homeless Outreach teams also continued their tireless and critical work and were instrumental in connecting unhoused individuals to housing and other much needed services.

Our Marketing team’s efforts also rallied around the community’s needs through our signature events like DTLA Halloween Festival for Kids, major campaigns for the Super Bowl, summertime, and the holidays, as well as innovative new programs like mobile check-in trails and scavenger hunts. We supported local businesses – both newcomers launching in Downtown and old favorites reopening – through our promotional channels, our Local Business Alliance and Marketing Roundtable groups, and a variety of activation initiatives. We continued to expand and improve our industry-leading website, email, and social media channels to engage the local community and promote DTLA as a prime destination for visiting, shopping, working, and living. Throughout 2022, the Economic Development team helped shape the narrative and reality of DTLA, leveraging its position as the leading source of information about the Downtown market though our traditional reports and research in addition to pioneering strategies like our virtual tour platform and augmented reality program. Our attraction and promotion initiatives targeted investors, developers, and prospective commercial and residential tenants through our robust communication channels and public relations efforts, which generated extensive and positive media coverage in the local and national press.

As 2022 drew to a close, the DTLA community and much of the Downtown market was thankfully moving beyond the COVID crisis, and despite the challenges we continue to face, Downtown LA remains vital in its own right, and of great importance to the Los Angeles region – not only as its primary core of commercial activity and most significant job base, but also as a vibrant local community of over 90,000 residents; a dynamic global center of arts, culture and entertainment; and the essential hub of its mass transit system.

As we move forward to recovery and revitalization, we thank you, our property owners, for your continued commitment to our District and DTLA.

Dan Cote Chairperson, DCBID Board of Directors

Suzanne Holley President & CEO, DCBID