Mayor Raps Remarks by ‘Furniture Lady’ in Email After Council Meeting

The City Council on Tuesday heard 19 people tell why they favor or oppose a downtown improvement district, and Mayor Art Madrid concluded the 1¼-hour session by saluting the speakers for their civil tenor.

But hours later—in email sent to fellow PBID backers—Madrid struck a different tone.

After thanking them “for an outstanding job!!! to the point, on target and factual,” he wrote:

Our ‘friends’ on the other hand continue to promote their disinformation campaign, but we should just consider the source, especially the furniture lady ... what a crock! She should be embarrassed by her comments, totally out of context and grossly and purposely misrepresented.

Madrid’s reference to “the furniture lady” was taken by readers of the email to mean Cynthia Stein, owner of the Galleria antiques and collectibles store on La Mesa Boulevard.

The email (attached) was forwarded Wednesday morning to La Mesa Patch by someone who asked not to be identified. It originally was sent to 14 PBID committee members and two city staffers—Community Development Director Bill Chopyk and Community Development Program Coordinator Chris Gonzales.

In her 5-minute appearance before the council, Stein read from a May 5 article in The San Diego Union-Tribune citing La Mesa’s backlog of projects and the lack of money to build them. 

Stein also criticized what she considered a ballooning budget of the proposed property-based business-improvement district, which she called a “hypothetical budget” heavy on marketing and administration.

Wednesday afternoon, Madrid responded to Patch questions about the email, which he didn’t deny was his.

Madrid argued that Stein “said the budget started at [$]60K and would undoubtedly grow to [$]435K. The budget was an issue discussed at every meeting and it reflects, with the exception of one individual, an agreed on number and the services the committee wanted and were willing to pay for.”

A video of Stein’s remarks (attached) depict her as urging the council to ask the PBID committee to “substantiate this $375,000 budget by actual contracts. You have not received one contract from one entity. … What if this budget can’t be achieved? What if it goes to $400,000?”

Madrid said the U-T article Stein read was about the city’s typical capital improvement program, which city staff and leaders discuss at an annual workshop “on how to prioritize these services/projects—just like any other city.”

Madrid said Stein “took the entire tenor of the report out of context saying that [the city] needed some $60 million that we didn’t have to pay for these projects and should use [the] pbid $ on these projects.”

In a telephone interview, Stein reacted to Madrid’s email remarks, saying: “Does he think I’m making the numbers up? The city has a lot of blinders on.”

She then ticked off advantages of a Pacific Beach business district, including “no parking meters.”

In her public comments, Stein called herself a former property owner in the El Cajon PBID area—“which forced me to leave that city.”

She told the council: “I don’t think flowers and trees bring people to La Mesa. I think the businesses of La Mesa and the personalities of those [businesses] bring people to La Mesa.”

However, she said she wasn’t opposed to the PBID, and was in favor of change, since “change brings progress and progress brings revenues.”

But twice as many people Tuesday night spoke in favor of the PBID, whose “management plan”—including proposed annual assessments for 293 parcels—was first posted on the city’s website Nov. 30.

PBID Formation Committee Chairwoman Lynn McRea set the stage for a parade of supporters by saying panel members “carefully considered fairness at every step of their work,” referring to the complex formulas that assign annual assessments.

She said she and her husband, who own an accounting and tax preparation business and the building it’s in, took pride in their office’s renovation, and “staying within the theme of The Village to enhance its charm.”

“We’ve seen several other businesses move in and do the same type of improvements … but over the eight years we’ve been in The Village, we’ve seen its overall appearance continue to decline.

“I’ve become absolutely convinced that a La Mesa PBID would be a valuable tool to help transform The Village into the type of destination that attracts visitors and shoppers.”

Adding major support was Jenna Zeledon, representing Auerbach Realty Group—owners of the Vons-anchored La Mesa Springs shopping center.

“It’s their hope that we all see that the city of La Mesa modernize and thrive in the current economic hardship, and they fully support the cost of the PBID for the added value it will bring to The Village,” she said, wearing a pro-PBID button.

The council took no action at the meeting, since forming a district requires a weighted vote of property owners (including City Hall) in three benefit zones.

And for a vote to take place, sufficient petitions must be submitted to put the question to parcel owners.

Ed Henning, the city-hired PBID consultant who guided the formation committee, said Tuesday that petitions can be distributed by mail or by hand.

He said it was up to the committee on when the petitions go out.

Committee member David Woodson, McRea’s husband who runs a realty office in The Village, said after the meeting, “I couldn’t tell you” when the panel would decide on issuing petitions. “I don’t know.”

But in email Tuesday night, McRea wrote the PBID panel: “Sorry to forward another updated [management district plan] but here it is.

“Ed Henning corrected the assessments on three parcels and the correction allowed him to reduce the $/linear foot of frontage assessment ($/LF) on all parcels from $5.56 LF to $5.18/LF while keeping the total budget the same ($378,100).  This results in a further decrease in total assessments on all commercial properties except the three corrected parcels.”

The plan posted on the city’s website as of early Thursday morning is dated Dec. 9.

Meanwhile, dueling websites on the PBID were online:

• We Support La Mesa’s Downtown Village PBID
• La Mesa Village PBID Forum