{"id":243951,"date":"2010-10-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-10-17T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/uptown-partnerships-funding-severely-reduced\/"},"modified":"2010-10-17T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-10-17T07:00:00","slug":"uptown-partnerships-funding-severely-reduced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/uptown-partnerships-funding-severely-reduced\/","title":{"rendered":"Uptown Partnership’s funding severely reduced"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Uptown<\/a>
These parking spaces on Normal Street are among the few Uptown Partnership has added to the area during its 10 years in operation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

City could dissolve organization if rapid reforms not made<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Pat Sherman\/<\/strong>Asistente de edici\u00f3n SDUN<\/p>\n

In the wake of a stinging grand jury report the San Diego City Council has sent Uptown Partnership a strong message\u2014voting to approve only three months of funding for the agency instead of its usual one-year contract.
\nThe nonprofit Uptown Partnership has been barraged with criticism from community members who question the way the group has managed parking meter revenues in Hillcrest, Mission Hills, Park West, Bankers Hill and Five Points, where Washington and India streets meet.<\/p>\n

Since incorporating in 1999 Uptown Partnership has received 45 percent of the $1.9 million in annual meter revenues the city collects in those communities. The county grand jury report found that, during that time, the partnership spent about three times more on operating expenses than on tangible projects, creating less than 50 new parking spaces.<\/p>\n

In voting to accept the short-term funding, the group\u2019s board of directors issued three-month notices to its staff members.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to see anyone lose their jobs,\u201d said City Councilmember Todd Gloria, who proposed the three-month funding.<\/p>\n

However, noting his constituents\u2019 much-publicized dissatisfaction with the \u201csize of Uptown Partnership\u2019s overhead relative to the projects that have been completed\u201d Gloria said a reduction in staff or pay cuts may be imminent.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of the mayor\u2019s response to the grand jury report\u2014and this is for all parking districts, not just Uptown\u2014is to see a reduction in the overhead,\u201d Gloria said. \u201cIf that\u2019s going to be a policy that\u2019s going to have to be implemented in the not-too-distant future, it really behooves Uptown Partnership [to act] sooner than later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leo Wilson, chair of the Bankers Hill\/Park West Community Association, has for years criticized the partnership\u2019s handling of meter revenues, advocating for Bankers Hill and Park West to seek autonomy from Uptown Partnership and manage its own meter revenues.<\/p>\n

\u201cI personally would have felt better if they had just terminated [Uptown Partnership\u2019s] contract and started over again,\u201d Wilson said, \u201cbut I think there\u2019s a now a realization that they need some reform.\u201d<\/p>\n

The partnership was originally formed with the goal of building a parking structure in Hillcrest, similar to what has been built in North Park. However, the partnership\u2019s executive director, Carol Schultz, said that for a variety of reasons funding for that project was ultimately deemed unfeasible.<\/p>\n

Wilson criticized the partnership for shifting its focus from securing more parking to working on projects such as the Hillcrest Corridor Bus Rapid Transit plan, in concert with the San Diego Area Association of Governments (SANDAG).<\/p>\n

\u201cSuddenly those guys thought they were the planning department of Uptown,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cThey were pushing mobility, they were pushing other issues. They were claiming they were entitled to be compensated to the degree that a planner was \u2026 (but) their purpose wasn\u2019t to do planning. It\u2019s just to do parking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the notice of potential layoffs, Schultz said her staff remains \u201cvery committed to the organization\u201d and to \u201cmaking progress on some significant projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s very important for [community members] to know that, whatever people have heard to the contrary, the board has in fact been very tuned in and listening very intently to the community and has made huge strides in the last year to restructure itself, to bring more people onto the board who would not have had an opportunity in the past and to continue to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of several reforms city council members Todd Gloria and Kevin Faulconer requested of the partnership last year was that the agency take steps to increase community representation on its board of directors, which currently includes a mix of architects, planners, finance experts and real estate professionals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will take a couple of years to completely turn over the board because they decided not to just totally wipe out everyone \u2026 but they brought in term limits so that there would be a regular rotation,\u201d Schultz said. \u201cI think people [should know] that the board has been very attentive to making itself a more accessible and open entity. We also want to focus on what could happen going forward and less about what may or may not have happened in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben Nicholls, executive director of the Hillcrest Business Improvement Association, said he believes that though Uptown Partnership may not be able to accomplish much in three months, the agency has time to come up with \u201ca game plan for fixing itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you stopped working on pretty much everything else and started working with the community groups and neighbors to figure out what this organization is going to be and how it can be managed, I think that you can do it,\u201d Nicholls said. \u201cI don\u2019t think they can make very much progress on actual parking projects at all… . Most of the progress has been out of volunteer groups related to that organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an e-mail sent to members of the Five Points Advisory Committee, John Hargreaves, Uptown Partnership\u2019s research and planning analyst, said the new contract requires that the partnership limit the scope of the organization\u2019s work during the next three months.<\/p>\n

Uptown Partnership\u2019s board of directors voted to limit its focus to three projects, Hargreaves said, including: funding for a streetcar that would operate between downtown and Hillcrest, a parking validation program in Hillcrest, and the gathering of \u201cbroad-based community input\u201d on the partnership\u2019s future structure and focus.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately,\u201d Hargreaves wrote, \u201cthe proposed contract is limited in scope and does not include any projects that fall within the Five Points Neighborhood. Therefore, I will be organizing and closing all the project files for the Five Points Neighborhood in the coming months and preparing a final status report for the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, a group of dissatisfied business owners in the Five Points area organized to explore breaking away from Uptown Partnership.<\/p>\n

Su-Mei Yu, owner of Saffron restaurant in Five Points, said she recognizes the need for an agency such as Uptown Partnership to help residents and business owners manage parking meter revenue. However, Yu said she feels Uptown Partnership has accomplished little in the way of tangible projects in Five Points.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019ve had many years to prove themselves … (and) done only mediocre work,\u201d She said. \u201cNext to Gelato Vero (on India Street) there used to be a sign that said two-hour parking only. Somebody ripped out that sign and it\u2019s never been replaced. It\u2019s simple things like (this) that have been explained to them. We\u2019re not talking about rocket science.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though projects in Five Points have been suspended, Schultz said one of its four staff members will continue to work on two ongoing projects in the Mission Hills area.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we have a three-month contract with the city [we\u2019re] trying to focus on those areas where we think we can have the best response and the most impact,\u201d Schultz said.<\/p>\n

An Uptown Partnership staff member will be working to get curbs built in front of driveways that are no longer being used in the business area near Washington and Goldfinch streets in Mission Hills, and to establish locations for new multi-space parking meter kiosks there, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a fairly low-level effort,\u201d Schultz said. \u201cThey\u2019re relatively easy for us to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson and some Five Points business owners have criticized Uptown Partnership and its board for spending what they view as a disproportionate amount of time and money on projects in the Mission Hills area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat board of directors has a majority of people from Mission Hills; that\u2019s the most affluent community in Uptown,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cThe problem is Mission Hills only generates five percent of the parking meter revenue. This is sort of a reverse Robin Hood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though there was some talk about the Hillcrest Business Improvement Association taking control of Uptown Partnership\u2019s duties, Nicholls said he no longer views that as a viable option should the partnership be dissolved.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe business association has voted and taken a position that we want to see a different management structure\u201d for Uptown Partnership, Nicholls said. \u201cWe could certainly do it, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s the best thing. The best thing would be a board of directors that represents the community that they claim to represent, and that proportionately represent their community … not handpicked people every time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gloria said he believes that there is an overall need for Uptown Partnership to continue, whether it is run by paid staff or volunteers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe there is a great deal of value in what Uptown Partnership does,\u201d Gloria said. \u201cI don\u2019t believe it\u2019s in the community\u2019s interest to eliminate Uptown Partnership or to break it into smaller piece such that it\u2019s not capable financially of doing anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hillcrest gets close to 200 new parking spaces
\n<\/strong>While Uptown Partnership works to restructure itself in the hope of securing additional funding, 187 new parking spaces have been freed up for use on nights and weekends in the Department of Motor Vehicles parking lot on Normal Street.<\/p>\n

A $1-per-hour fee will be collected and used for ongoing maintenance to the site.<\/p>\n

Use of the space was secured by Councilmember Gloria and state Sen. Christine Kehoe. Gloria recently helped secure 32 new parking spaces in the lot adjacent to the long-shuttered Pernicano\u2019s restaurant on Sixth Avenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs it became clear that a parking structure is not financially viable for Hillcrest, my approach to this has been looking at our existing inventory,\u201d Gloria said. \u201cWe have a series of parking lots that are not utilized or underutilized. The DMV, Pernicano\u2019s, the AT&T parking lot, the post office and the future library site all have surface parking lots with a number of spaces that, in each of those cases, were not available to the general public. In each of those cases we\u2019ve systematically gone though working with individual property owners to open them up to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gloria said the DMV still intends to redevelop the property in the future, which could mean an eventual reduction or elimination of those spaces.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the more reason to take advantage of this [parking] now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Wilson said he feels Councilmember Gloria has been doing the job which Uptown Partnership was tasked with.<\/p>\n

\u201cTodd Gloria, in less than a year, negotiated a deal with the DMV, with Pernicano\u2019s \u2026 because he focused on it\u2014and they didn\u2019t have to give him $10 million,\u201d he said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

City could dissolve organization if rapid reforms not made By Pat Sherman\/SDUN Assistant Editor In the wake of a stinging grand jury report the San Diego City Council has sent Uptown Partnership a strong message\u2014voting to approve only three months of funding for the agency instead of its usual one-year contract. The nonprofit Uptown Partnership […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":243170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Uptown Partnership's funding severely reduced","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}