Loss of parking revenue slashes two-thirds of East Village Association budget

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The East Village Association is working to right its budget after years of losing parking meter revenue. Cuts to the board’s administrative and public relations contracts may be the solution, staff say. 

For nearly three decades, a percentage of fees collected by parking meters was allocated to community parking districts to invest in parking, traffic safety and mobility projects in their areas. As part of the Downtown Community Parking District, the EVA would budget parking revenue for East Village projects. 

This changed when the City Council suspended its policy in October to share meter revenue with community parking districts due to concerns of mismanaged funds and unnecessary levels of bureaucracy. The decision placed the city’s Transportation Department in charge of the revenue, diverting all parking funds away from the districts through June 2027. 

“We essentially lost two-thirds of our budget,” EVA District Manager Dominic Li Mandri said at last week’s meeting. 

He said the group began losing parking revenue years before the city’s decision to pause the program last year. 

During the 2024 budget cycle, the EVA was eligible for about $400,000 in parking meter revenue but received less than $250,000. A downward allocation trend followed, and Li Mandri said they decided at the beginning of the current fiscal year not to account for any parking revenue. Shortly after, the city stopped distributing funds. 

In September, the EVA board formed a task force to address its gap in funding. 

“We created this budget task force so that we can figure out a way forward … seeing where we can trim back and where we can right-side the ship,” Li Mandri said. 

Li Mandri said the board has been reviewing their contracts, bringing services in-house and lowering office costs. The task force is now recommending the association reduce its current contracts with management company New City America and Olive Public Relations for the upcoming fiscal year. 

The board is still working on what that would look like for New City America management, Li Mandri said, but this means they would only be able to afford public relations if they generate enough income from association events, such as the Taste of East Village or Oktoberfest.

Olive Public Relations president Jennifer Borba von Stauffenberg said this will affect their level of service.

“We know this coming fiscal year, we will do our best, but we will not have the budget to inform the media on what is happening in the community and the media has played a major role in keeping the residents, businesses and visitors informed,” she said.

Without parking revenue, Li Mandri said they needed to absorb administrative and service costs into income from the Business Improvement District, Small Business Enhancement Program and events programming.  

The districts were also still responsible for overseeing parking projects that were in the works without funding, he said.

“We all had projects that we had been furthering in partnership with the city, and those projects essentially had to close down or significantly be reduced because we no longer had ongoing funding to support them,” Li Mandri told The San Diego Sun. 

A notable project on the chopping block was installation of string lights. The EVA installed lights on Market Street and was approved to do so on Park Boulevard, but funding was later cut.

The neighborhood group will vote on the task force’s recommendations and finalize the fiscal year 2027 budget at its July 16 board meeting. Meetings are open to the public. 

Brisa Karow is an independent journalist living in San Diego. She is part of inewsource’s San Diego Documenters program and regularly reports on local government throughout the county.