Business-Improvement District Panel, Including Mayor Madrid, Meets Tonight

The group looking to form a business-improvement district in The Village downtown will meet at 6 tonight (Monday) at the La Mesa Community Center, a city official confirmed.

“It’s not a closed-door meeting,” said City Manager Dave Witt. But he said the gathering of the so-called Downtown Steering Committee isn’t intended to acccommodate a lot of people—such as the that detailed the process.

Still, the group includes La Mesa City Hall “stakeholders” such as Mayor Art Madrid and Councilman Dave Allan, Witt said.

Formally called a PBID, for property-based business-improvement district, the effort seeks a vote by property owners on whether to tax themselves for downtown improvements and added services.

Witt said Chris Gonzales, the city’s community development program coordinator, and Bill Chopyk,  community development director, would attend the meeting as well as Edward Henning, the council-hired PBID consultant.

The committee is getting “down to business,” Witt said, and sorting out details of how the improvement district would work.

Several Village merchants complained Monday morning that the meeting wasn’t listed on the city’s website, but Witt noted that the PBID committee is “unaffiliated” with the city.

“It’s not a Planning Commission or City Council meeting,” Witt said. Although the city is represented on the committee—since City Hall and other city-owned property would be part of the improvement district—the PBID effort is independent, he said.

“I’m trying myself to step back” from involvement in what he called a volunteer committee, Witt said. But city staff will be available to answer questions.

Witt said he hadn’t heard the report that the committee would rename itself the Formation Committee.

Witt, who said committee members were notified of the meeting via e-mail, called Monday night’s gathering just the latest in the process.

“There will be many more,” he said.