By Jorge Casuso

February 20 -- The Downtown cleaning budget should be nearly doubled if the City wants to keep its key economic engine humming, the Bayside District Board is expected to tell the City Council next month.

Boosting the current $770,000 maintenance budget by between $500,000 and $750,000 is among the key recommendations approved by the board last week, but who will clean up the Third Street Promenade and surrounding streets up is still up for debate.

Downtown officials argue that the stakeholders who will pay for the expanded services in the form of new assessments need to have a way of making sure the job -- which will either be contracted out or performed by City workers -- gets done.

“I think the maintenance issue is absolutely critical,” said Robert O. York, a consultant to the Bayside District. “If there isn’t some kind of objective criteria, I’m not sure this is going to make people happy or achieve the goal.”

“It must be crystal-clear what they are expected to provide,” said Bayside Executive Director Kathleen Rawson. “The outline of what would be provided has to be clear.”

Bayside cleaning crews are working hard to scrub up the Downtown, but they are hamstrung by a tight budget and plenty of red tape, said Eddie Greenberg, who heads Downtown maintenance.

“It’s always been take a piece of gum and stick it in this gap,” Greenberg told the board. “We need a greater autonomy than we do have.

“You go through so many tiers of bosses you need patience just to move something,” said Greenberg, who has worked for the City for 30 years. “There is inertia in the system that has to be revolutionized.”

Greenberg said it took half a year to get a replacement for one the six motors that runs the parking structure elevators.

“We have six that are six years old, and we’ve changed all the parts,” he said. “To get scotch tape I’ve gone through three days of requests.”

Give the maintenance crew that is there day and night a greater say, Greenberg argued, and the difference will be noticeable.

“If you can tinker with the system a little bit, it’s amazing the kinds of results you get,” he said. “I always felt the Promenade maintenance was its own entity with its own budget. Why wouldn’t you want to invest in your golden goose.”

In order to make sure the maintenance is adequate, consultants have suggested crafting a services agreement that specifies the frequency of services, the hours of operation and the equipment that is used.

It also requires “oversight” that could include weekly conferences between Bayside and City officials and, perhaps, a grading system.

“There must be some accountability that the job is done well,” said Bill Tucker, a Bayside Board member who owns property on the Promenade.

But it is unclear what the Bayside officials could do if the City fails to follow through on its end of the bargain.

“What’s the hammer? What’s the consequence?” Rawson said. “It doesn’t matter who does it. It matters that it gets done.

“We have to change it from a subjective review to an objective review,” Rawson added. “They need to provide the service, period.”

“We need enhanced maintenance, and it must be accountable,” said Bayside Board member John Warfel. “Accountability is nothing if there are no consequences.”

City officials are confident the job -- which will be directly under a newly created post in charge of maintenance citywide -- will get done.

“You can’t cross the line of saying you can fire the City,” said Council member Ken Genser, who serves as a liaison to the Bayside Board. “But you shouldn’t need to do that.”