Central Los Angeles

TAXING TIMES: Everyone agrees that Broadway, Downtown Los Angeles’ historic retail core, looks better than ever with daily sweeping, extra trash removal and trash cans. But getting everyone to agree to cough up the extra taxes to fund the project has been tough.

In July, the Los Angeles City Council’s one-year approval for an eight-block business improvement district along Broadway expired. Since then, district managers have continued to run special cleanup programs with some of the $420,000 in extra taxes collected from merchants last year.

But the funds are running out, so the 68 trash cans and the daily street sweeping done by formerly homeless men will be eliminated as of Oct. 1, said Wilfred Higgins, a district administrative aide.

District managers hope to get the City Council to approve continuation of the tax district at a public hearing scheduled for Oct. 17. But some merchants want nothing to do with it and are collecting signatures to oppose the move.

Merchants critical of the tax district say the city should provide the cleanup services. They also contend that the taxes, which are based on business receipts, are unfair because some merchants don’t report all their income.

To head off another year of special assessment, organizers must collect the signatures of opposing merchants whose contributions represent 50% plus $1 of the district’s yearly assessment.