Poll: Is Westwood Dying or Making a Comeback?

Editor's note: I've been asked to remove the screenshots of the Twitter account I originally posted due to a copyright issue with the user's profile picture, but if you want to see the tweets, click here.

The Westwood Business Improvement District says it sees a bright future ahead for local businesses, countering the doom and gloom predictions of Twitter account @westwoodisdying, according to a recent blog post in the LA Weekly.

The account states its mission as "documenting the closed and closing storefronts in Westwood Village." That's a crusade contrary to the goals of the district, a group of Westwood Village property and business owners looking to boost business in the area.

District Executive Director Andrew Thomas told LA Weekly he thinks the Twitter account is "really sad" and that Westwood is actually making a comeback.

"I've seen momentum building," says Thomas. "It's a reality here that there are vacancies, but there's a lot of movement on them."

The Twitter account, founded in May, lauds the arrival of new businesses like Target, but flip flops between spreading such praise and lamenting the presence of empty storefronts. Its earliest tweets make the account look like a memorial page for ex-Westwood businesses.

"RIP Monica's on Broxton (May, 2012) We never actually stepped in to this shop. Nevertheless, we are sad to see it go."

Also featured on the account page: shots of storefronts with "retail space available" signs, accompanied by a made-up acronym: YAES (Yet Another Empty Storefront).

The district is trying fight against such dismal portrayals; its site markets the village as a destination with "neighborhood charm, city style."

Lately, the village is starting to align more with that image, due to , recent  and much anticipated later this summer.

What do you think? Is Westwood on the decline or on its way up?