Committee forwards Civic Center Community Benefit District after achieving 30% petition support

The Budget & Finance Committee on Oct. 19 recommended that the Board of Supervisors proceed with a resolution of intent to form the Civic Center Community Benefit District (CBD) and set a public hearing for Jan. 4, 2011.

Lisa Pagan and Karen Ecklund (MGM Management Group) told the committee the petition phase achieved about 30.27% support and presented a management plan and engineer’s report. The proposed district would include roughly 654 parcels and a first‑year budget of approximately $736,800 to fund services by zone: public safety ambassadors (coordinating with police and building security), extra cleaning in Market Street areas, lighting improvements, activation/arts programming, and outreach to property owners.

Supervisor Ellsberg and others probed the composition of petition support and noted that 10–13% of the petition signatures came from public entities (e.g., War Memorial institutions, state properties). Ellsberg said he will evaluate his eventual vote on whether a majority of private property owners approve during the mailed ballot phase. Civic Center stakeholders and institutional tenants (Conservatory of Music, War Memorial representatives) testified in favor; some speakers raised concerns about oversight, assessment pass‑throughs to tenants and private governance of assessment funds.

Committee action: Supervisors accepted the amendments to the management plan and moved the resolution forward with recommendation to permit the Department of Elections to mail ballots and schedule the final hearing.