Cleaning and Beautifying La Mesa Village with Parking Meter Funds

The Village needs sprucing. The sidewalks are dirty; litter collects at curbs and against buildings; planters house cigarette butts, gum wrappers and the occasional flowers.

There is a $250,000 per year fix called a Property-Based Business Improvement District, a.k.a. PBID and there is also a $17,000 per year fix called “doing more with less, “working with what you’ve got,” “the new reality,” “common sense,” a.k.a. meter money.

The PBID would collect $250,000 per year from special assessments added to Village property owners’ property taxes; the money would then be spent in La Mesa Village.

Presumably, these property owners could pass this increase to tenants and ultimately the shoppers and diners of the Village, which is fueling some dissent.

Approximately $70,000 per year would cover administrative fees, $60,000 - $80,000 would be allocated for cleaning (power washing and litter removal) and the balance could go toward anything from security guards to walking ambassadors to advertising events.

There is bloat in these figures. Upon hearing $60,000-$80,000 for cleaning fees, Rick Bucklew, owner of Don Keating Auto and a member of the PBID steering committee, put it perfectly when he said, “$60,000 - $80,000 for cleaning?! That seems high, we could hire a full-time worker who did nothing but clean the boulevard full time for $30,000 - $40,000/year.”

With the public’s growing antipathy toward government waste or any gratuitous grab of the ever-shrinking private sector pie, alternatives to plans like this need to be seriously considered and implemented.

The La Mesa Village meters collect more than $250,000 per year. Meter stickers boast, “Your Parking Fees Fund Downtown Improvements.” Supporters of the PBID have no shortage of ideas on what they want from the PBID but suddenly become silent at having meter money pay for their wish lists. Why?

The focus of the PBID steering committee meetings I’ve attended and the handouts I have read has been cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, with power washing at the top of the list.

Curt Betz, owner of VIP Janitorial Services established in 1962, estimates power-washing the sidewalks and trash receptacles of the main part of the Village (La Mesa Blvd between 4th and Acacia) at $3,000 per session, for a quarterly rate of $12,000 per year.

His clients have included the City of Poway, the City of San Marcos, San Diego County and the City of Oceanside.

Litter removal could be as simple and economical as business owners sweeping the areas in front of and behind their shops. Beautiful Solana Beach, home of the gorgeous Cedros Shopping District, requires business owners to keep their businesses litter free (see attachment).

This is the epitome of “pitching in” to save money —a noble and necessary cause.

Up until two years ago, vibrant flowers in clean planters were paid for by the La Mesa Village Merchants Association at a cost of less than $5,000 per year. For budgetary reasons, they discontinued the gardening service. This is another improvement the meter funds could finance.

So for $17,000 per year, or 6% of meter money collected, the Village could enjoy quarterly power washing, a litter-free environment and beautiful flowers in the planters. This would be a vast improvement over what we have now (one power washing per year and no flower plan) and would accomplish cleaning downtown and improving our charm and beauty for $233,000 LESS than the PBID, with no administrative waste.

People, businesses, governments must start thinking differently. The solution to everything cannot be nonstop plundering of commerce.