by Pat Sherman
SDUN Assistant Editor

Some business owners and residents in Bankers Hill and Five Points are working to sever ties with Uptown Partnership and gain control of money generated from parking meters in their neighborhoods.

The proposed secession is part of a growing discontent some feel toward Uptown Partnership, the nonprofit corporation the city of San Diego established to manage parking meter revenue in Hillcrest, Mission Hills, Bankers Hill, Park West and Five Points, where Washington and India streets meet.

The organization, one of six community parking districts formed in 1997, receives about 45 percent of the revenue generated from Uptown parking meters (as well as other city reimbursements) for parking, pedestrian and traffic projects.

Critics claim the agency’s leadership is slow to respond to the wishes of the neighborhoods it serves, often favors projects in certain areas of Uptown over those in others, and is pushing a $500,000 parking meter upgrade unpopular with some.

Su-Mei Yu, owner of Saffron restaurant in the Five Points neighborhood, said she supports forming a nonprofit community development corporation (CDC) to oversee meter revenue and parking projects in her area.

Although Uptown Partnership completed several recent projects in Five Points, including the addition of 25 parking spaces, a flashing speed alert sign and other traffic calming measures, Yu said she feels that, overall, the organization’s leadership is slow to complete projects outside of Mission Hills and Hillcrest.

“They’re friendly people but they don’t really care about India Street,” Yu said. “We’re just too far away. We feel so much like an orphan.”

Jennifer Pesqueira, whose family owns El Indio Mexican restaurant, also supports breaking from Uptown Partnership. Pesqueira said she is generally unimpressed by the organization’s efforts, noting a proposal to reduce the width of the sidewalk in front of El Indio’s outdoor patio to create a southbound traffic lane. She also has concerns with how much Uptown Partnership spends on overhead.

Leo Wilson, chairman of the Bankers Hill-Park West Community Association and the Uptown Planners community advisory group, is spearheading the Bankers Hill-Park West secession.

Wilson said Uptown Partnership’s administrative costs consume the lion’s share of its budget. He would like to see the organization dissolved and the money it uses for overhead go toward tangible projects in the community.

According to financial statements for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2009, Uptown Partnership’s total expenses were $440,702 – including $186,457 for salary and benefits – while revenue was $464,435. Professional services were expected to increase from $21,050 to $103,563 this year.

“Basically the whole organization goes to overhead,” Wilson said. “When do we as a community come out and say we don’t want that anymore?”

Richard Stegner, executive director of the Mission Hills Business Improvement District, said he believes Five Points has benefited greatly from Uptown Partnership’s stewardship and the revenue available to Five Points beyond what it takes in from parking meters.

“If it wasn’t for the extra money from the Uptown Partnership that (recent) work would not have been done,” Stegner said.

The meter fees Uptown Partnership receives from Five Points are about $23,000. However, the revenue Uptown Partnership stands to lose from meters in Bankers Hill/Park West accounts for about 30 percent of Uptown Partnership’s annual budget, which was $850,000 this year, said Carol Schultz, Uptown Partnership’s executive director.

The loss of that income would be a hindrance to projects benefiting the Uptown district, such as the parking meter upgrade, Schultz said.

“I think that’s something we would look at very carefully,” Schultz said of the defection. She said the organization “would look for advice and counsel” from representatives of City Council Districts 2 and 3, portions of which are under the umbrella of Uptown Partnership.

Late last year Wilson and others in the Bankers Hill-Park West area formed their own CDC. Wilson said they plan to submit their budget directly to the city for approval.

However, before these groups would be given control of their parking revenue and projects, the mayor and Uptown Partnership’s board of directors would have to approve their proposals, Schultz said, citing her understanding of City Council policy 100-18, which governs community parking districts.

Schultz said by parting ways with her agency the groups would get less accomplished. Each would have to pay for their administrative costs and not have access to expertise available through Uptown Partnership, such as parking consultants and grant writing.

“We’re able to consolidate and get economy of scale by having one organization,” Schultz said. “If you fracture that into a half-dozen organizations, you’re repeating the same activities.”

Upon learning of Five Points planned secession, Anne Rast, vice president of Uptown Partnership’s board of directors, sent a letter to Mayor Sanders. In the letter, dated April 2, the retired land use planner said Uptown Partnership’s board was “perplexed by such a proposal because the Partnership has had a very positive working relationship and an excellent record of success in the Five Points neighborhood. … (Partnership staff have worked) tirelessly with a Five Points advisory committee and the City of San Diego to evaluate local needs and propose solutions.”

City Council members Todd Gloria and Kevin Faulconer both oppose what Gloria referred to as “the Balkanization of Uptown Partnership.”

“Uptown Partnership has made numerous positive contributions to the neighborhoods it serves,” Gloria said, noting a Normal Street median renovation that added 15 new spaces this year. A larger median project on Normal Street is expected to add 45 spaces in the future.

“I believe these neighborhoods are better served and stronger together,” Gloria said. “That doesn’t recuse Uptown Partnership from having to justify every single penny, and the public is right to ask those questions.”

Gloria noted several reforms he and Faulconer requested of Uptown Partnership last year to create greater transparency and increase community representation on the agency’s board of directors. The agency has complied with almost all of their requests, he said.

Those in Bankers Hill and Five Points seeking autonomy from Uptown Partnership cite the University Heights CDC as a model for what they would like to achieve. Although University Heights did not meet the 100-parking meter threshold the city required to be recognized as its own parking management district in 1997, the city ultimately granted groups in both University Heights and Golden Hill direct management of meter revenues.

The volunteer-run University Heights CDC has an annual budget of between $30,000 and $35,000. It reimburses the city directly for parking consultant fees, rent and other expenses.

“I think it’s a more democratic approach and it has not hurt our relations with the Mid-City (community parking district),” said University Heights CDC treasurer Ernie Bonn. “We exchange ideas, we meet once month. It’s a far more harmonious way to operate.”

Though autonomous parking management agencies could save on overhead costs, they may find themselves the victim of organizational burnout, Stegner cautioned.

“Statistically … volunteerism is great at the very beginning because everybody is excited, but let’s look at it two or three years down the road when everybody gets tired of it and it’s eating up their time,” he said.

Bonn said the University Heights organization has been operating smoothly since it took control of its parking meter revenues, and is preparing a statement of support for the Bankers Hill and Five Points groups.

“The fact that we became independent was a big help to us in making decisions every year,” Bonn said. “The only problems we have are the machinations that the city may put up. … It’s like this trickle-down authority and it interferes with maybe doing as good of a job as we could.”