Council Budget Committee kicks the can
Several Hillcresters attended yesterday’s Budget Committee meeting where three of our residents asked for next year’s Uptown Partnership budget be pulled from consideration for lack of community input. Gloria, Faulconer, Young, Emerald & DeMaio all moved UP’s budget on to the full council for a September showdown. Perhaps they’re not aware of the Uptown Partnership’s continuing problems. (btw…the city has 6 parking districts, butonly 3 of them have meters. Our district wants to spend $504K for new Uptown parking meters. Perhaps the others should get them first.)
Residents and business owners called out the Partnership’s lack of responsiveness to the community in prioritizing parking needs and a budget that is flawed by an entry of $1,942,500 for an expenditure that in reality should have been budgeted at $504,000. The Partnership Executive Director, Carol Schultz responded to councilmember Gloria that the new “found’ money that has been erroneously budgeted, in her mind, should now support parking at the proposed, yet unfunded, Mission Hills-Hillcrest library. Really? How long will that take to build? Hillcrest has needed a parking lot since the ’70s. The AT&T lot in central Hillcrest is available now. Will it ever be more affordable?
The Uptown Partnership received a letter from councilmembers Gloria & Faulconer in early May strongly suggesting changes in the structure and operations of their board and leadership. Uptown Partnership was called out by yesterday’s committee to implement their suggestions before their budget is heard by the full council in September. Faulconer commented that the Partnership’s community outreach on July 2 could have been better achieved if they had not chosen the eve of a holiday weekend for their neighborhood forum. (Ms. Schultz and her board’s president were also unable to attend.)
Here is one Hillcrest resident’s comments…“I am here today to ask that you reject the Uptown Parking District CPD budget and plan. A $2.8 million dollar budget that includes a $1.4M “miscommunication,” needs to be pulled and further scrutinized. A $2.8M budget that includes a $1.9M line item for parking meters, that is four times the going-rate, needs to be pulled. A budget with a board-approved $1.9M line-item that is apportioned with the city at 25:75%, when it is supposed to be 55:45%, needs to be pulled. A budget that does not reflect the last board meeting’s vote to alter a $1.9M line item to $125K, while the Partnership is looking into that vote, needs to be pulled. A budget, with a $1.4M “miscommunication” needs to be pulled.”
Sadly, it was not.
