For two years, some property owners on a half-mile stretch of El Cajon Boulevard in University Heights have been planning to create a tax authority that would pay for street and sidewalk maintenance in the area.
Such taxing authorities, known as maintenance districts, are formed so property owners can tax themselves to pay for additional cleaning services the city won’t provide.
Late last year, a handful of property owners in nearby Hillcrest asked to be included in the new tax authority. That request has drawn pushback from community business group leaders, who worry the proposed maintenance district — to be called the West End Community Benefit District — would essentially carve out and rebrand the east side of Hillcrest as a new neighborhood.
Under the proposal, New City America, a company that forms and manages assessment districts, would manage the district. The West End district would provide maintenance — such as sidewalk cleaning, gutter sweeping and landscaping — as well as branding and public art to the area.
Its proposed $674,000 annual budget would include $415,000 for cleaning services, $120,000 for district identity and “placemaking,” $120,000 for management and $24,000 for reserves, according to a plan draft prepared by New City America.
The new district’s boundaries would include El Cajon Boulevard from Texas Street to Park Boulevard, Park Boulevard from Meade to Robinson Avenue, University Avenue from Park Boulevard to Richmond Street and Normal Street from Washington Street to University Avenue.
That nearly 1-mile stretch of Normal Street includes the Normal Street Promenade, a pedestrian and bicycle thoroughfare expected to break ground this year. The street also is home to Pride Plaza, where the Hillcrest Pride flag stands.
Leaders of the Hillcrest Business Association and the El Cajon Boulevard Association have been outspoken about their opposition to the proposal. The associations wrote online that the “neighborhood is being carved up and re-named.”
Benjamin Nicholls, executive director of the Hillcrest Business Association, said the formation of a district that provides cleaning services to the area would not be a bad thing — the problem is the proposed $120,000 budget for “district identity.”
“To me that is the kind of money you spend if you want to create the image of a new neighborhood,” Nicholls said.
The business association operates and maintains the Pride Flag in Hillcrest. It created an online petition to save Pride Plaza that has collected about 850 electronic signatures, he said.
The formation of a maintenance district would not impact the city’s legal agreement with the business association to care for the Pride Flag, according to the city. Still, Nicholls said, it doesn’t make sense to have one organization get paid to clean the space, but maintaining the flag pole falls on the business association.
Marco Li Mandri, president of New City America, said the plan was put on hold two weeks ago due to the controversy. He said the branding is for promoting a positive image of the area, not to rebrand Hillcrest, Pride Plaza or the Normal Street Promenade.
“The misinformation campaign launched last week was not only extremely unprofessional, but also loaded with erroneous claims of fraud and misrepresentation of what had actually occurred in the development of this plan,” Li Mandri wrote in an email Tuesday.
The El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement Association also raised concerns about adding taxes when many property owners are affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The association also created an online petition to keep local community-based nonprofit groups in control of the area, as opposed to an outside company.
The proposed MAD includes parts of University Heights and has caused tension with several business associations.
(Jarrod Valliere / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
David Snyder, who owns property in the proposed district, said discussions about a new maintenance district arose among property owners who were concerned about trash collection, sidewalk cleanliness and safety on Normal Street once the promenade is completed.
“I am interested in making sure that the Promenade is a success,” Snyder wrote in an email Wednesday. “That success I believe will depend on the proper activation, control, maintenance and safety of the space for the community at large and the area businesses.”
City Councilman Chris Ward, who represents both neighborhoods, has spent the last week assuring Hillcrest residents that the neighborhood’s name will not change, a spokesperson said.
“Branding a neighborhood does not rename the neighborhood but helps with marketing the area to visitors,” Ansermio Estrada, Ward’s communications manager, wrote in an email Wednesday.
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