Charities Compete for Shrinking Share of La Mesa's Federal Grants

Will it be Meals on Wheels or ElderHelp? The San Diego Food Bank or the Interfaith Shelter Network? Who will stay and who will go?

With deep cuts possible in Washington, La Mesa began what Mayor Art Madrid called “tough difficult decisions” on which of 11 public-service groups would continue getting money from the City Council in the 2011-2012 fiscal year starting July 1—and how much they’d receive.

On a night when the council voted $13,000 to match private donations for Fletcher Parkway signage honoring military veterans, seven representatives of local charities came hat in hand to City Hall, asking for a slice of La Mesa’s share of community development block grants.

The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has funneled $13.3 million of these grants to La Mesa since 1985—benefiting low and moderate income residents for housing and services, said the city’s Patricia Rutledge, who narrated a slide show at Tuesday night’s council meeting.

Guessing that block-grant money will be slashed at least 7.5 percent—as suggested in President Barack Obama’s proposed budget—Rutledge laid out options for the council, which will render verdicts on cuts and allocations at a future meeting and make final decisions March 22.

Given the chance of even deeper cuts—since congressional Republicans want as much as a 60 percent reduction in block grants—the total value of requests ($57,500 compared with this year’s $49,000) is impossible to accommodate.

Another wrench was thrown into the council’s calculations by a HUD audit that frowned on the way La Mesa distributes grant moneys.

Instead of the city giving an average $4,500 to 10 groups, HUD recommended “a minimum of $10,000 [per charity] and target public services based on need,” the council was told.

“We can’t completely ignore their advice,” said City Manager Dave Witt. “We don’t want to get into an adversarial [mode]. They could withdraw our funds or freeze our funds.”

Madrid was among several council members scrutinizing which charities were doing the best work for the most people.

For example, he told Alicia Branam, program director of the East County Family YMCA, that its move to shift help for unemployed parents of Vista la Mesa Academy students to funding summer camp for kids might not be the best.

Councilwoman Ruth Sterling favored cutting grants to local charities proportionally, but that the city also should “take into consideration the number of clients being helped [by the services].”

The council is judging each charity in seven categories, the service reps were told, especially the share of money that goes toward administration.

That means Meals on Wheels, whose clients average over 80 years old and get two meals a day all week, could have an advantage over other charities, such as one that committed 16 percent of its money to administration.

City Manager Witt suggested that if allocations are cut, “that we [should] have a proportional adjustment [so] all boats will sink with the tide.”

Madrid closed a 55-minute hearing on bids for block grants by saying he admired the work done by charities were giving, but “keep in mind the challenges we face.”

Earlier in the night, men who faced a greater challenge were honored by the council—six local veterans of World War II, whom Councilman Dave Allan introduced in the run-up to the June 3 dedication of street signs christening Fletcher Parkway as Veterans Memorial Highway.

Allan said the project has grown to a cost of $22,000, and only $9,000 has been raised so far.  But the council voted 4-0 (with Ernie Ewin absent) to contribute $13,000 as a matching gift toward the project.

In other business, the council:

• Heard Police Chief Al Lanning outline plans for a prescription-drug return program—which would take potentially dangerous drugs out of circulation. But council members wanted it to occur more than three or four times a year, as Lanning suggested, and several wanted local pharmacies involved—taking back what they’ve sold to patients.
• Accepted a flag marking Arbor Week in March from CalFire’s Lynnette Short, who said this was the 31st year La Mesa has been designated part of the Tree City USA program. This made La Mesa among the top five cities in the state for how long it’s been involved. Madrid said 47 trees have been added to Allison Avenue.
• And heard, during public comments, a scathing critique of the downtown PBID process from Village merchant Bill Jaynes, who said the newly renamed Formation Committee didn’t adequately represent downtown segments, such as residents. He labeled the business-improvement district study “increasingly adversarial.”  He said courts could overturn the results of the PBID: “Done deals are undone every day.”