By Karen Pearlman
Photo, left, by Miriam Raftery: El Cajon's downtown district
March 12, 2025 (El Cajon) – A new city vibe is expected to come to the more than 100-year-old city of El Cajon.
Earlier this month, the Downtown El Cajon Business Partners, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting a safe and prosperous downtown El Cajon, announced that it had hired New City America to lead a renewal effort in the area.
The group that helped revitalize Little Italy is being tapped to be executive director of the group and work to make downtown El Cajon a vibrant community hub.
The final contract – set in an original request for bid for $150,000 annually -- has not been signed yet, said Downtown El Cajon Business Partners Board Member and Treasurer Cathy Zeman (photo, right).
New City America is a nationally recognized urban revitalization firm that among other things, helped transform the Little Italy area in San Diego into a vibrant and popular destination. It did similar work in Chula Vista’s historic Third Avenue district, launching new public events and improvements.
Downtown El Cajon Business Partners is a group that is funded through a Property-Based Improvement District authorized by the city of El Cajon in 2015 to support downtown improvements via assessments made on property owners.
The Partners is a not-for-profit organization made up of local businesses and other stakeholders who want to improve the downtown area. It manages the PBID funds for about 300 parcels with a budget around $560,000 and among other things, coordinates the car show.
Once the contract is finalized in the coming weeks, New City America President Marco Li Mandri (photo, left) will serve as Executive Director of the Downtown El Cajon Business Partners.
The collaboration is expected to reinvigorate the downtown area by attracting new businesses, expanding nightlife opportunities and bringing solutions to those who are experiencing homelessness.
Chris Berg (photo, right), Board Member of Downtown El Cajon Business Partners and Marketing Manager for the city of El Cajon, said the partnership with New City America will be transformative for the city.
“Our business community has long needed a dedicated, experienced leader to unite property owners, merchants and City Hall around a common vision,” Berg said.
In the coming months, Li Mandri and the Partners are expected to engage local merchants and residents to develop an action plan for downtown, including building on the Cajon Classic Cruise.
The weekly car show in downtown El Cajon has got the green light for 2025 and will start its collective engines this Spring, though the season will be shorter than in the past.
Zeman said the show will start its collective engines starting in May.
The full 
schedule for the season is still in the works and should be completed within a few weeks. A noon meeting is scheduled to discuss the car show on Wednesday, April 9, at a site to be determined, she said.
The Cajon Classic Cruise has been a tradition along Main Street since 2001, and has become one of Southern California’s largest weekly car shows.
Photo, left by Karen Pearlman: Vintage autos on display at Cajon Classic Cruise
Every week’s three-hour show is focused on different types of vehicles -- from low riders, trucks and convertibles to Volkswagens to Mustangs and British-focused cars.
But the event has run into some scrutiny recently.
Some business owners in the downtown area have expressed concern to the city that those showing their vehicles were parking in spots that customers needed long before the shows would start at 5 p.m., and it was impacting their businesses.
“We’re trying to put some plans place so that the car show people don’t park or stage too early,” Zeman said. “Businesses don’t want to see the cars parking there at 10 or 11 in the morning.”
Earlier this month, the city of El Cajon held a workshop that addressed that and well as other complaints and concerns.
The workshop stemmed from a city staff report and related discussion October 22, 2024 that included concerns about revenues from PBID assessments, consideration of not renewing the PBID and expanding the PBID boundaries.
The October discussion also included discussion about considering another venue in the city for the car show and concern for the management of the car show.
A city staff report said that the car show “consumes between $72,000 and $80,600 of the PBID’s budget,” and added that in the past two years, the city has received a higher volume of complaints about the car show from businesses located on Main Street.
The staff report said that the city receives a quarterly sales tax report, with part of that report analyzing the downtown area. But it also noted that using sales tax as a metric to determine if businesses generate more sales tax during the car show quarters, the data showed no impact from the car show.
Zeman said the Partners are looking for ways to better monetize the car show. Auto buffs are not charged to show their vehicles at the show, and that won’t change but she said the group is looking for ways to make the event profitable.