Progress on projects: Several Enhance La Jolla efforts making headway

Several projects under the auspices of Enhance La Jolla are making headway in The Village. At the group’s July 20 meeting, the board provided updates on its efforts to power-wash the streets, its in-development streetscape project and more.

Enhance La Jolla is a nonprofit that manages the Maintenance Assessment District in The Village with authority to enhance services provided by the city of San Diego, including landscape maintenance, street and sidewalk cleaning, litter and graffiti abatement and additional trash collection. It also can privately fund and complete improvement projects in public spaces, such as trash can upgrades, bench installation, sign augmentation, park upgrades, public art and tree canopies on main thoroughfares.

Streetscape

As part of their Village streetscape plan, Enhance La Jolla and the La Jolla Community Foundation have asked the San Diego mayor’s office to appoint a city project manager to shepherd the work.

The plan would first renovate Girard Avenue between Silverado and Prospect streets, adding curb extensions, paving, landscaping and lighting. Permit applications were submitted to the city in early July.

“It’s very complicated,” said Phyllis Pfeiffer, La Jolla Community Foundation chairwoman and Enhance La Jolla board member. “Every single city department is involved in this, so rather than having our project manager go to 20 different departments, the mayor will appoint someone who will walk this project through.”

The project includes new lights to be strung between fixtures to help illuminate Girard Avenue amid complaints that several city streetlights are malfunctioning.

Thus far, $3 million of the needed $6.5 million has been committed. Work is expected to start in fall 2024.

To learn more about the streetscape plan or for donation information, go to ljcommunityfoundation.org/streetscape.

Power-washing

In light of the busy summer tourism season, the frequency of overnight sidewalk power-washing has been increased by a day, said Enhance La Jolla Chairman Ed Witt.

Through Sept. 30, the power-washing will be done between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Sundays through Wednesdays. In October, the frequency will drop to three nights a week, but Witt asserted that will be sufficient to maintain the same level of cleanliness.

The power-washing is done by Urban Corps of San Diego County. Witt commended its use of a vacuum tank to pick up any water used for the washing so it doesn’t go into storm drains and into the ocean.

A link is being created on the Enhance La Jolla website, enhancelajolla.org, to tell the community which sidewalks were cleaned, Witt said.

Median cleanup

Though outside the boundaries of the Maintenance Assessment District, Enhance La Jolla used a recent $2,000 donation to hire Nissho of California (which does Enhance La Jolla landscaping work) to remove weeds from medians on Torrey Pines Road and La Jolla Parkway.

“La Jolla is a world-class [community] with world visitors every day and we need to do our best to make sure La Jolla looks like a world-class [community],” Witt said.

Utility boxes

Enhance La Jolla board member Tony Gild said a proposal to spruce up utility boxes throughout The Village is coming closer to fruition.

“We are trying to work out how to enhance and beautify them, and we wanted to get the best bang for our buck,” Gild said. “We decided to take a few boxes and decorate them with decals or paintings of dolphins, pelicans and things that are common to the area.”

The original proposal was to wrap them in vinyl featuring coastal imagery, but that idea cost $9,000 for a few boxes, Witt said. The same amount would cover all the boxes with paintings or decals.

Gild said the board is working with San Diego Gas & Electric, which owns the boxes and has limits on what can go on them. “Hopefully by the next meeting, I’ll have something to report and we can get this thing going,” he said.

Other Enhance La Jolla news

La Jolla Maintenance Assessment District Manager Brian Earley shows the decal that will go on service vehicles as they perform work in the MAD.

(Ashley Mackin-Solomon)

Branding: For the first time, Enhance La Jolla has created branding materials such as hats and magnetic decals to be placed on vehicles to indicate when work is being done by the organization.

Rhea Aguinaldo of the San Diego Economic Development Department commended Enhance La Jolla’s decision to brand itself and noted that “you and [North Park] are the only two MADs that have that importance on branding and making sure the public knows who you are out in the community.”

Board election: The Enhance La Jolla board soon will start accepting nominations for its next election. The board has 13 members — seven property owners or representatives of property owners, three members of the La Jolla Community Foundation, one representative of the La Jolla Village Merchants Association and two representatives of the community at large.

Four seats will be up for election, said board member Kathryn Kanjo — two property owner seats, one Community Foundation seat and an at-large seat.

Nominations will be accepted through September, and the ballot will be posted and voted on. Election results will be announced in October.

Next meeting: Enhance La Jolla meets quarterly or as needed. The next meeting will be at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19, at a location to be determined. ◆