By Monica Garske | SDUN Reporter

Golden Hill residents could see more trash and graffiti littering their neighborhood due to the closing of the Golden Hill Maintenance Assessment District (MAD). In February, the Superior Court of the State of California, County of San Diego, issued a judgment to shut down the MAD by cancelling the tax that funds it. Cleaning services ended March 20.

The City created the Golden Hill MAD in 2007, which was funded by tax dollars collected from Golden Hill area property owners. The purpose of the MAD was to provide services in Golden Hill including litter removal; sidewalk sweeping and power washing; landscaping; graffiti removal; large item removal; canyon beautification; and overall improvements to the aesthetic appeal of property in the neighborhood.

Initially, some Golden Hill property owners opposed the taxation for the services, but the City kept the MAD intact. Now, after debates from both sides and the elimination of the MAD, those services have ceased.

The Greater Golden Hill Community Development Corporation (GGHCDC) oversees the implementation of MAD services, uses the tax money to pay for the clean up and hire contractors to enact them.

Ben Verdugo, project manager with the GGHCDC, said he received a letter about the March 20 dissolution of the MAD from the courts the week before the services ended. By March 21, Verdugo said residents were calling the GGHCDC with concerns about the continuation of trash and graffiti removal services.

“I’ve had to tell them that we can’t provide those services anymore. The City will have to take it from here; we don’t really have many answers right now,” Verdugo said.

Verdugo also said the halting of MAD services will have a noticeable effect on the Golden Hill community. Within the next few weeks, he said residents will begin to see more graffiti and litter polluting the area.

A standard single-family home was paying approximately $76 per year in taxes for the services provided by the MAD, Verdugo said. He said he believes the dissolution of the maintenance organization will have instant negative effects on the aesthetic appeal of Golden Hill.

Verdugo said he hopes the City and the Golden Hill community will be able to re-establish some kind of new maintenance-centered project, but for now, he said there’s no quick fix in sight and it will be up to local property owners to remove excess trash and keep the neighborhood tidy.

Mark Catrambone, a contractor and supervisor for Harvest Landscape, a company contracted by the GGHCDC to provide trash and graffiti removal services for the area, said he has already seen a difference.

Catrambone said he has been overseeing the clean-up services in Golden Hill for the past two years, but the contract with Harvest Landscape was terminated on March 16 as a result of the MAD elimination.

“You can already see the difference without the removal services. Graffiti was always a big issue for us and now it’ll only get worse. It’s really sad because after two years of work, the neighborhood was looking really good. I think [the elimination of the MAD] will be a detriment to this community. We worked hard to improve things around here,” Catrambone said.

In a typical week, Catrambone said Harvest Landscape would send a crew of five workers into Golden Hill for eight hours a day, five days a week, to remove trash and graffiti.

On average, he said his crew removed 109 large items such as old couches, mattresses, chairs, toilets and clothing from alleys and streets each week.
“We also removed about 300 bags of trash… and cleaned up 1,100-square-feet of graffiti each week. Graffiti is a major problem in the area. We spent about 10 to 15 hours each week pressure-washing walls and removed thousands of graffiti tags each month,” Catrambone said.

He also said a common area for graffiti removal was the end of F Street by the Interstate 5 North freeway ramp, an area his crew would sometimes clean twice a day.

Although many Golden Hill property owners opposed the MAD, Catrambone said his clean-up crew received only positive feedback from residents for their services.

“The vast majority of residents and business owners were very appreciative of what we did and thanked us every week. I think those who opposed the MAD will feel differently in about a month, when the look of the neighborhood changes. It really is sad; we enjoyed our work there and thought it was a great community,” Catrambone said.

District Three Councilmember Todd Gloria said, “At this point, there remain many unanswered questions about what the Court’s decision means for Golden Hill. While we need clarity on those issues from the Mayor and the City Attorney, we also need to focus on ensuring the community receives the services it needs.”