An open (abbreviated) 10/5/09 letter from Leo Wilson to the City Council:
I am writing as chair of the Bankers Hill/Park West Community Association (BHPWCA) requesting that the City Council create an independent parking subgroup for our area – similar to existing subgroups in both University Heights and Golden Hill. Bankers Hill/Park West is the second largest community in Uptown, with a population approaching 15,000. In the past decade, we have absorbed the majority of new development in our area and have generated a substantial portion of Uptown development-related revenue and parking meter fees, which have consistently been diverted out of our neighborhood to other communities in Uptown – often to low-density areas that have had little new development.
The diversion of these funds has made scarce the resources necessary to address a critical public-safety issue in Bankers Hill/ Park West — one of the highest traffic accident rates in the City (74 in the last five months). For years, we have requested either stop signs or traffic signals to help remedy this situation – with no response from city staff other than, “We are studying the issue.” While we have had no access to parking meter revenue, Uptown Partnership generously funded new sidewalks and pedestrian pop-outs in other areas. Recently the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Uptown Partnership was about to make what amounted to a $1 million gift for a new library for Mission Hills. Bankers Hill/Park West supports libraries, but the purpose of parking-meter revenue is to address parking and other traffic/mobility-related public facilities.
Several months ago, the BHPWCA steering committee approved the following motion by a 24-0 vote: (1.) That Bankers Hill ends its direct affiliation with Uptown Partnership and become its own parking sub-area, similar to the University Heights parking district sub-area. Parking meter revenues generated in Bankers Hill should be used solely for improvements within our community. Parking meter revenue that is generated should be held in a trust account or another manner that is transparent. Additionally, any overhead should be limited to no more than 10% of the funds generated in a given year.
The BHPWCA has subsequently been informed that President Pro Tem Kevin Faulconer will be introducing a motion in response to the above request (today) October 6. If the motion begins the process of allowing the Bankers Hill/ Park West community to establish its own independent subgroup, then we urge you to support it. In requesting a separate community parking subgroup, the BHPWCA is not supporting, or condoning, the approval of the Uptown Partnership contract. The numerous issues and controversies involving the Uptown Partnership are well known and have been featured in several critical newspaper articles. It does not appear that these issues, nor the clearly excessive operational expenses and lack of accountability of the organization, have been remedied. If the City Council does choose to renew the contract (tune into Channel 24 this afternoon), as a matter of fairness and equity it should also approve a separate subgroup for Bankers Hill/Park West for the reasons stated above.
