Hi Don,
Thanks for your letter. Yes, we know about our sidewalks, and we have a committee called the Clean OB Committee that is trying to find a solution to our sidewalk problems.
Presently, we power-wash the sidewalks in the 4900 block of Newport Avenue (where the Farmers Market is) every week. The other blocks are done once a month. We are already assessing our Newport Avenue property owners (who, in turn, may pass the costs on to the merchants) through a maintenance assessment district (a self-assessment). The city of San Diego does not provide any maintenance assistance to us.
We empty our own trash five to six times a week (57 trash cans), hand-sweep the gutters and around the palm trees once per week, empty 32 ashcan receptacles 3 days per week, clean the trash lids weekly, replant and maintain 56 planters and repair and maintain the irrigation system.
The city abandoned Newport Avenue about 15 years ago and we have been trying to keep up the maintenance on our own. We also suffer 50 to 100 graffiti taggings per week that must be painted out. Along Newport Avenue we only have about 80 businesses, so it is a small number to shoulder such an expensive burden.
It is an enormous challenge for us. Since the Think Blue Clean Water Act went into effect, we are no longer allowed to hose off the sidewalks without recapturing all the water, so the cost of washing the sidewalks has quadrupled.
The same goes for washing off our buildings.
This is happening to communities throughout San Diego. For those communities under a flight path, the black residue that covers our sidewalks and buildings is even greater.
Ventura is its own city and therefore has a huge pot of money (probably part of the tax base) to take care the maintenance. Their sidewalks may also be newer. Our sidewalks are falling apart, so it makes it doubly difficult.
We are working with other business improvement districts and Main Street associations to co-own one or two of the expensive cleaning machines that might do a better job. Last month, we had a sidewalk-cleaning company give us a demonstration of their cleaning techniques for the gum and wax residue on the sidewalks. Although it takes off the gum, it still leaves a black stain on the cement. The committee didn’t see a significant improvement. That company would charge us a minimum of $6,000 per cleaning for the three blocks of Newport Avenue. Yikes.
We are looking for new members of our Clean OB Committee and would love to have you join. Dave Smedley is the chairperson of the committee and can be reached at (619) 223-1641.
We have been taking this seriously and have worked hard to improve conditions. When the city stopped providing any service, they only had two or three trash cans per block and they were not consistently emptied. There were no sidewalk cleanings and no one was hand-sweeping. We have certainly stepped up the maintenance since then.
We spend over $50,000 from the maintenance assessment district per year just to maintain Newport Avenue, and that doesn’t include all the extra money we spend throughout OB in maintenance.
We would love for you to be part of the solution.
Thanks again for contacting us. We do appreciate that you care about our great community.
n Editor’s note: The Beacon received copies of the above letters and decided to publish them in an effort to raise awareness of the sidewalk issue in Ocean Beach and to help clarify what is being done to correct the problem. Community participation and input is certainly encouraged.