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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-21-2019 Hanning - public Comment0 azm Comments on PBID, Dave Hannings, 642 Monterey St. May 21, 2019 I am here to discuss the proposed Property -Based Business Improvement BEs r1cY'TY CLERK proposed by Downtownslo: The original plan for tonight's meeting was to have the city accept the petitions from the property owners in the proposed Property -Based Business Improvement District requesting a vote to establish such a district in downtown SLO. The petition drive was a bust, as only about 30% of the property owners signed the petitions. So we as residential property owners are here during Public Comment to make it clear that we wish this proposal would just go away. But Downtownslo has a new proposal that reduces the district size by about half, gerrymanders out some of the largest opponents (like the county of SLO properties), and will be asking those of us still in the new district to sign petitions requesting the establishment of the new district. Good Luck with that! The three improvements to downtown that Downtownslo proposes are Expanding the Downtown Ambassador Program, improve downtown Maintenance, and do Beautification and Cosmetic Improvements. Considering how much revenue downtown generates for the city, and the significant new revenue that will be coming from Bed tax on the large high-end hotels coming online soon, why does Downtownslo have to add a tax on property owners downtown and raise 800K to do this? One of the main proposed activities of the Ambassadors is to "prevent crime," and deal with the homeless population. How? They will have no police training or enforcement powers. A PBID is not the answer! The Maintenance services include trash removal, sidewalk cleaning, weed and graffiti removal, etc. Is this not the job of the city? The Beautification and Cosmetic Improvements MAY include sidewalk repair, landscaping and lighting, signage, public art, bicycle parking, etc. Again, is this not the responsibility of the city paid for by existing higher taxes on downtown businesses? The city tax rate on downtown businesses is twice that on city business outside of the downtown district already. And how are any of these activities of use to those of us who have single family residences downtown? Most of us have attractive properties maintained to a high standard already, and need none of this. We love living downtown, and do our bit to make downtown an attractive place. Our biggest problems are late night noise and drunken behavior. This proposal will do nothing about that! Downtownslo has a current budget of around 700K, this proposed fee increase would add 800K, so more than double their budget. Apparently they currently spend about 400K on personnel, and have recently moved into a large commercial space on Chorro st. Is this necessary? Downtownslo states that residents were consulted as this plan was developed, but none of us have any idea who these people were. It would have been obvious to any residential property owner that there is nothing in this for us. This is just darn annoying. As residential property owners downtown we think that we do our bit to make downtown a nice place, and do not see why we should be billed for services that we do not need or want! Downtownslo seems to be doing a good job running the Farmer's Market, Christmas Parade, Concerts in the Plaza, etc. Maybe they should leave improvements to our Downtown to the elected City Government. This is passing off the City's responsibilities to an unelected, unaccountable non profit organization. The City should have the funds to handle this.