One day early last year, in a high-rise near the North Bay, around a dozen people gathered in a conference room. The space belonged to the Downtown San Diego Partnership, a nonprofit that formed decades ago to boost the local economy, and it featured a floor-to-ceiling skyline photo that was sometimes used to impress potential investors. But the occupants that day were the group's homeless outreach workers, and their attention was focused on the opposite wall.
But after a growing number of owners outside that area asked to join, there's now a formal request before the San Diego City Council to expand what's called a maintenance assessment district. If city leaders approve a vote, property owners in Hillcrest will likely decide early next year whether they want to spend more on security guards who can patrol the streets.