It’s fair to say that when you come into the Village of La Jolla, Enhance La Jolla wants you to notice a significant difference when you stroll our sidewalks, including the lack of trash and graffiti that you may see in other places, and an inviting look and feel to the area.
This was the original idea of a maintenance assessment district’s function, providing a “special benefit” in the specified boundaries as voted by the property owners within those boundaries. But the service goes far beyond that, and ELJ is as busy as ever in providing these and many other benefits for everyone who lives, works or visits The Village.
Since January, we have added 33 new hanging baskets that can be seen where Girard Avenue connects with Torrey Pines Road, all the way to Prospect Street. We are now managing 100 hanging baskets that need attention weekly with water and trimming.
We added a dozen armrests to the benches throughout the district, and you will see that they were custom-made to match the benches’ original design. They add a great look and reduce misuse of the benches.
One of the most ambitious projects of late is the ELJ bench renewal project. Many La Jollans are familiar with the memorial bench program dating back some 25 years, in which sponsors or families would fund the manufacture of a full wood bench anchored to the sidewalk and with a plaque dedicated to a loved one.
ELJ received a modest donation from the La Jolla Town Foundation to renew and restore as many benches as we can with the donation.
The screws are checked for tightness, then the entire bench is power-washed to get the top layer of gray wood removed. They are then sanded twice, and finally three coats of polyurethane varnish are applied. You will also see the memorial plaque come alive once again!
The first six benches are completed around the Athenaeum and across the street at Girard and Wall Street. We are looking for partners to assist us in renovating the benches that need care.
Both the hanging baskets and the bench renewals can be funded through donations to ELJ, and it is these donations that are enabling us to continue these projects. Considering the La Jolla MAD is the third-largest in the city of San Diego, there is considerable room to expand these projects.
The organizations we hire to provide the vital services to the district are performing very well. Their work is very physically demanding for the level of care we strive for.
Our landscape department is taking care of trees and dozens of potted plants, and when the job is too large for our capacity, we use the city’s Get It Done app, just as you do.
Look for our janitorial golf cart that is on duty keeping the area clean seven days a week and replenishing the dog stations with pickup bags that we hope more people will use.
La Jolla has several large public events that draw thousands of people, and for the most part, these organizations do a good job of cleaning up afterward. But ELJ is on the job in the days before and following these big events to ensure the sidewalks and surrounding areas are returned to their original condition.
Our power-washing crew will soon go to a four-day-a-week schedule to keep up with the demand of our world-class destination.
If you see little to no graffiti in the district, it is not because they are taking it easy on us. Vandalism never takes a day off, and luckily neither does our graffiti abatement service.
Enhance La Jolla is responsible for preparing an annual draft budget, retaining contractors and overseeing and istering the maintenance services. We are pleased to provide these services on behalf of property owners who pay for the assessment for the benefit of all.
We invite you to review the district boundaries as well as information about the La Jolla Community Foundation, which helped create our organization, at enhancelajolla.org.
If you see something that needs our attention or are interested in sponsoring a hanging basket or bench renewal, please call (858) 444-5892 or email [email protected].
Brian Earley is Enhance La Jolla’s Maintenance Assessment District manager and Ed Witt is Enhance La Jolla president. ◆
