Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. The city’s Office of Small Business (OSB) is now forming a new Business Improvement District (BID) for La Jolla merchants. This is not change we can believe in. Two years ago, a “reform slate” of directors became the majority of the Promote La Jolla BID. In its “Free La Jolla” campaign, the reform slate agreed with 95 percent of La Jolla merchants and residents that the city should not put parking meters in La Jolla. The second prong of the reform slate was transparency: the books and records of Promote La Jolla were made public and all decisions were to be made publicly, not in secret. The OSB has taken over the La Jolla BID. It has rejected the advice of the BID Advisory Council appointed by the City Council. It has canceled public meetings. The OSB was responsible for oversight of PLJ’s failures. The pre-2009 PLJ records revealed that PLJ was approximately $150,000 in debt. The executive director of PLJ during that time is now executive director of the BID Council. A new La Jolla BID will fall under the oversight of the OSB and the former PLJ executive director. The recommendations of the reform slate, which discovered and fixed the PLJ dilemma, are rejected. The OSB decision to use restricted BID funds to form a new BID was made in secret by the OSB. There is increasing talk of parking meters in La Jolla. The empty promise is that La Jolla could receive as much as 40 percent of local parking revenues from the city. The OSB that had oversight over the failed PLJ BID will now have oversight over the new La Jolla BID. This is not change at all. This is a power grab by the OSB and the San Diego BID Advisory Council. If a new La Jolla BID is formed, its officers and directors must remain vigilant so that La Jolla’s control of its own BID is not entirely usurped by the OSB and the BID Advisory Council. — Rick Wildman is the President of Promote La Jolla, Inc. and a member BID Advisory Committee