On the heels of the artist revolt in downtown Santa Ana comes yet another uprising – a group of businesses who want to get rid of the PBID – an annual assessment that business owners in that area have to pay in order to market, clean up and secure the downtown area.
There is no question that the PBID has succeeded in cleaning up the downtown area. And I think it is safer as well, despite the murder of a bar patron a few weeks ago when he was robbed and shot in a parking structure. But has the marketing worked?
The PBID is administered by a non-profit, Downtown, Inc. They have engaged in all sorts of creative marketing, bringing various events to the city and providing a lunchtime trolley.
The disgruntled business owners are arguing that the marketing has been ineffective, but the reality is that the marketing alone will not help some of these businesses.
For example, one of the upset business owners runs a laundromat. That business most definitely won’t benefit from the PBID, at least the marketing aspect of it. Their clients are largely renters who come from working families.
Many of the other rebellious owners run businesses that market to Santa Ana’s immigrant community. But that community is in disarray. Many of these residents have fled California, because of the recession, and quite a few have gone back home.
Many critics also question how the assessment was created in the first place. The city put it to a vote of the property owners, but weighted the ballots based on how much each would pay. One dollar, one vote, according to the O.C. Register.
I spoke to one of our Santa Ana Council Members about this. What the Council Member told me is that the issue is frustrating – the PBID is needed and if it goes away the city has no money to accomplish the same means. Goodbye safety and cleanliness in the downtown.
All of this leads me to wonder if there might be a third option? Instead of getting rid of the PBID, why not refine it? Get everyone together, redo the boundaries, assess the annual budget and slash it if there is consensus to do so. That would lower the assessments and given the boundary changes it might liberate a few of the business owners who are complaining.
Another thought – consider changing the assessment in terms of which businesses it applies to. I see no good reason to charge a laundromat four thousand a year for this program.
And yes, it sounds like the revised assessment should be put to another vote. If indeed folks did not know what was up last time, then lets put it to another vote. That would be the fair thing to do.
What really concerns me – and should worry the Council majority – is that the election is barely over and already we are seeing multiple flare-ups of discontent. In two years Mayor Miguel Pulido will likely face challenger Alfredo Amezcua, again. I doubt Mayor Pulido will roll over him so easily next time around if by then Amezcua has managed to continue to fan all of these fires.
One of Amezcua’s biggest supporters, Dr. Art Lomeli, is in fact a leader of the PBID rebellion. And he has a few followers in the Artists Village too. Amezcua promised that he would be a stone in Pulido’s shoe, and so far he is living up to that promise. The City Council better pay heed to all of this discontent as it looks to be snowballing and the year isn’t even over yet!
The Artists Village and the Merchants of 4th Street, are suffering, because the Downtown Inc, has invested all the funds in the Restaurants Ass. Why are they collecting money from all properties owner, if they dont get any benefits?
The city council should be inmediately involve in this issue since they were the one that past the PBID into effect, there are many City propertiesinvolved.
The PBID, is to complement what the city has in place, not to take over the city dutys.
The city should freezed all fund inmediately? or disolved the PBID, lets every business marketing and suported themself, and used their own money for such things.
This is the most unfair business that the city aproved.
Jose,
Thanks for commenting. I spoke to Sam Romero today for quite a long time and am writing a follow-up story about what is going on in the 4th St. area.
Art: I know Sam was asked by few properties owner, for help, the same with Dr. Lomeli, in away both knows how the city operated, the other issue is the remodeling of the Fiesta Marketplace when the two owener are on the board of Director,when there are others owners that really need help,most of the merchants think that Cindy Nelson is the one that aproved the plan., because she wants the small business out of Downtown. look what they did, six weeks has passed there business are block and must of then can not support another moth., there sales are down 75 %and example the lady of the Ice cream La Reyna de Michoacan her sale were $2.00 in one day>
We can write page after page, and will be no room to tell you how the 4th street people is feeling,
Like Dr, Lomeli, Sam Romero, Carmen Avila and Nina Woo, are helping this merchants ,,with marketing ideas, and any help they can provide.I walk the Downtown this morning and was a ghost town.
Please help this comunity since the city is not doing nothing.This is the heart of the Latino Comunnity , we welcome everybody with open arms.
I know that a lot of artists village fans don’t feel the need to renovate 4th st at all. Confident artists are about creation and not destruction. Let there be free enterprise and free competition. There are plenty of historic buildings to renovate on Broadway without resorting to racist, sneaky politics. It is starting to look more and more like the PBID was designed to destroy under the guise of fixing and cleaning. If people want sterility downtown than they can go to the Starbucks on 4th and Broadway, then walk out and Stare at the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and never even look East towards the little “Tijuana”. But it will be hard not to sneak a peak, because it is just more interesting that way.
Mateo,
How would you suggest we pay for things? What are you proposing?
We need to attract consumers to the downtown area. You oppose the PBID and you oppose the valet service both of which would help in bringing more folks into the downtown to spend money.
I love the feel of the downtown area and I spend money there at shops like R&R where you can get sweet guayabera’s. I would love to see the downtown thriving economically with all kinds of folks coming there to shop.
What are you and your collective doing to make this happen? Also, please explain how the all-Latino city council is being “racist”.
“Councilwoman Claudia Alvarez, who has been championing the anti-tax side, offered three ideas Monday for settling the controversy: setting a public hearing to dismantle the tax district; holding a property owners advisory election; and allowing property owners the right to petition for disestablishment.”
These are all baloney – what the disgruntaled unfairly taxed property owners need to do is hit the businesses that benefit from Downtown Inc. in the pocketbook – NOW!!
Protest/picket their business during their busiest times and emphasize the unfairness of the tax and how it is hurting them.
This will be settled in 30 days.