Half of the assessment funds, an estimated $800,000 this fiscal year, are allocated to the Laguna Beach Visitors and Conference Bureau, which promotes destination tourism.
The other half of the BID assessment is divided up among local art institutions, Arts Commission programs and community art organizations that burnish the city’s reputation as an art colony and are deemed attractive to tourists.
This fiscal year, the Laguna College of Art & Design, the Laguna Playhouse, Laguna Art Museum and Arts Commission programs all received $160,000. Another $160,000 was split among local arts organizations.
Among the commission projects funded by the BID in 2008-09: artist-designed benches, banner and palette competitions, art exhibits at City Hall, publications, Concerts in the Park, a public art tour, public art restorations and temporary exhibits of rotating sculptures.
The Chamber of Commerce wants a piece of the action and Chamber President Jeff Redeker made a pitch at the council meeting for a 5% slice of the pie.
“We should get BID support,” Chamber Executive Director Rose Hancock said. “We do an enormous amount for visitors, as well as residents.”
However, the allocations are specified in a city ordinance.
“It’s not up to the city to decide,” Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth Pearson said. “We are just the caretakers.”
She advised chamber officials to take their case to the hoteliers.
Surf & Sand General Manager Nick Bozych wasn’t receptive to the proposal.
“We are the No. 2 contributor to the BID,” Bozych said. “I would question a request for a percentage. I would want to know where it’s going before approving it and I’d want to know how it would help hotels.”
