Your comments have been flowing following my story on maintenance assessment districts earlier this week.
Here’s more perspective from readers on the impacts MADs have had in their communities.
Reader B.W., from the Torrey Pines MAD, raised questions about the city’s role in representing the districts whose goals for the community might differ from City Hall:
On too many occasions, I witnessed the City giving blanket approval for the removal of mature, adult trees and landscape despite the fact these fixtures were, for all intents and purposes, property of the MAD. No notice and certainly no mitigation was ever provided.
MADs are provided counsel through the City Attorney’s Office. So what happens when the MAD wishes to stop a developer from removing landscape, building over easements, or building a road through the MAD? A City decision supporting a developer is in direct violation of the City-approved and community-funded MAD.
Reader T.J.Z., in Rancho Peñasquitos, said simply this:
The Rancho Penasquitos MAD does a great job improving the “curb appeal” of my community.
And here’s some perspective from reader J.D.:
I have one small point to add to the MAD/Business Improvement District discussion. When proposals for general tax increases are raised, the opposition, particularly from businesses, usually insists that they (their customers, specifically) cannot absorb the additional cost. These same businesses then turn around and raise their own taxes, as long as they control the spending. It shows the original complaint to be less than fully honest. I think that’s a small but important piece of the broader discussion.