BID or No BID?

The Daily Journal piece on this week's BID discussion and merchants' concerns notes

More than 270 protests against the creation of a Burlingame Avenue business improvement district were filed, but it is not yet known if there are enough votes to disqualify the effort.

About 60 percent of a small sample of the protests were deemed valid and the rest will be examined in more detail since

Votes from the estimated 550 businesses in the Burlingame Avenue area are weighted based on the amount of money a business would pay should the BID go into effect.

It could be a close vote.

Comments

[Scheherezade Sharabianlou]

Please send email requests to the Mayor, Cathy Baylock and city attorney Guss and ask them why my neighbor Mike Harvey and Putnam car dealerships were not included in the BID. The Mayor and the city attorney they both are avoiding the answer. They both said "I don't know". I am sure Mike Harvey and Putnam will enjoy flowers planted on Burlingame Avenue using our money. Why have they been treated differently than the rest of us. Please demand transparency and answers.

Thank you,

Scheherezade Sharabianlou
PIP Printing
220 California Drive

[Scheherezade Sharabianlou]

Finally after pressing to view the books of BID in 2005 a copy of the ledger was sent to me. But this is as far it goes. The city Manager claims that he does not have any more details as to the locations and the nature of the expenses that used up $129,000 BID 2005 money. It is interesting that they can't show anything done with $129,000. I asked and would like to find out the relationships of the vendors used. We can't change the past but if this year BID passes we can't have business as usual. If the city isn't watching them then who would? Is this how they are going to spend our hard earned money? Please demand transparency from the city manager and demand answers. Ask that you want to know how the $129,000 was spent. That's all. It is your right to know.

Thank you,

Scheherezade Sharabianlou