CA Supreme Court says state can kill Redevelopment Agencies (Los Angeles: schools, subsidized)

[majoun]

Originally Posted by Bulldogdad

Cutting off your nose to spite your face is never good policy. Tens of thousands of jobs or more will be lost because of this idiotic way of fixing a problem. I know of several contractors that are making plans to lay off employees because of this policy and its affects on several RDA projects just in our local area.

Corporate welfare and slush funds for politicians are not efficient ways of generating jobs.


"Redevelopment has become a cash cow for developers, NFL team owners and big box stores who have been on the public dole for a long, long time, subsidized by these redevelopment funds," Assemblyman Chris Norby (R-Fullerton) said after the court's ruling. The agencies "should have shut up" instead of suing to overturn the laws. "Now they've lost it all," he said.

He suggested that supporters of redevelopment may be fighting a lost cause.

"Where will the money come from?" he asked. "The state's broke."

California Supreme Court puts redevelopment agencies out of business - Page 2 - Los Angeles Times

California

[ibejohn818]

Even if it was twenty thousand jobs that would be lost, are all those city workers really worth in 400k plus A PEICE ( i know there are materials to be purchased with that money as well, but this is ludicrous ).

So I go to UCLA, study computer science and electronics engineering. Work my ass off for that 6 digits, and in turn pay it back to labor unions that produce terrible work. Have you seen our GD freeways, they are TERRIBLE. The engineers the city has are AWFUL.

It's just another case of the Corrections Lobbyists "Stroke it" better than the labor unions.

Just cut my taxes already and I'll buy more stuff and create more JOBS!

[SalParadise]

Originally Posted by majoun

While some smaller cities use CRAs legitimately and for the purposes of improving their cities, other larger cities, especially Los Angeles and San Diego, have CRAs which are cesspools of corruption

.

Cesspools of corruption? That is way over the top and not true (at least for the LA CRA).

But you also claimed LA was the most dangerous city in the world circa 1980 in another thread. So I guess you like to make dramatic statements that are simply false.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by SalParadise

Cesspools of corruption? That is way over the top and not true (at least for the LA CRA).

The LA CRA is probably the most corrupt.
It amounted to developer subsidies at the expense of other more important items in the city budget. The jobs created by the CRA were not worth the cost in taxpayer money. The LA City Council being controlled by developers is deeply threatened by the loss of the CRA.

Note that the LA City Council transferred $1 billion in CRA funds to city council coffers so the state wouldn't get the money, which may be illegal.

Redevelopment Agencies Across California, Including L.A. CRA, Abolished: Governor Jerry Brown Victorious - Los Angeles News - The Informer

Now one could state it's a shame that some of the cities with more honest CRAs which have actually helped those cities, such as Culver City, Pasadena, Burbank, etc. have suffered for L.A.'s sins. Which would be a legit objection. But unfortunately, in rooting out evil there is often collateral damage. And the L.A. CRA is evil, in its massive waste of funds and abuse of eminent domain. It was the Red Line, not the CRA, which brought back Hollywood and parts of North Hollywood. When the CRA set up in Hollywood in the mid-80s, it accelerated the degradation. This was not reversed until the Metro came in.

But you also claimed LA was the most dangerous city in the world circa 1980 in another thread. .

And you corrected me, and I thank you for pointing out that I was wrong. I admit that I erred in stating that.

[ibejohn818]

LA CRA is like a child. Innocent when it was born. Then Corrupted and tarnished once Tony Villar got his hands on it.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by ibejohn818

LA CRA is like a child. Innocent when it was born. Then Corrupted and tarnished once Tony Villar got his hands on it.

It was corrupted and tarnished long before Tony held office. It has a very sordid history going back to the destruction of Chavez Ravine.

[Fargobound]

There are way too many people on both sides of the political spectrum getting excited for nothing. I’ve seen democrats calling this a victory for Governor Brown’s budget. I’ve seen republicans rally that this is a blow to bloated local governments.

I don’t think what anyone really gets is that, the paltry sum of money the RDA’s are required to now give back in February is but a drop in the bucket towards California’s budget problems.

If anything what neither part seems to realize is that part of their local property tax that use to go towards RDA’s is going to plug a budget hole that is continually being dug in Sacramento.

I just don’t get why everyone is excited. I’m not saying RDA are not without fault, but I’d rather see more of my tax dollars stay local. I think the real ha ha will come this February when we see how this goose cooks.

Can someone please tell me why this is a good thing? $1.6 billion dollars plus don’t seem like much when it comes to solving state budget problems. While I will have relocated next month, I still will be watching this unfold.

[SalParadise]

Originally Posted by majoun

The LA CRA is probably the most corrupt.
It amounted to developer subsidies at the expense of other more important items in the city budget. The jobs created by the CRA were not worth the cost in taxpayer money. The LA City Council being controlled by developers is deeply threatened by the loss of the CRA.

Note that the LA City Council transferred $1 billion in CRA funds to city council coffers so the state wouldn't get the money, which may be illegal.

Redevelopment Agencies Across California, Including L.A. CRA, Abolished: Governor Jerry Brown Victorious - Los Angeles News - The Informer


And you corrected me, and I thank you for pointing out that I was wrong. I admit that I erred in stating that.

Fair enough. We may have to agree to disagree.

My view is that just because LA's CRA was not efficient (or bungled certain projects) does not make it corrupt. I would never argue the CRA's role is a job creator, so we agree on that. A CRA's major role is to remove blight, period.

As for the transfer of funds, Wendy Gruel (City Controller) , who is also running for Mayor, said, "I wouldn't call it a scandal but it did raise red flags."

Greuel: CRA Played Fast and Loose | NBC Los Angeles

[majoun]

Originally Posted by SalParadise

Fair enough. We may have to agree to disagree.

My view is that just because LA's CRA was not efficient (or bungled certain projects) does not make it corrupt. I would never argue the CRA's role is a job creator, so we agree on that. A CRA's major role is to remove blight, period.

The CRA came into Hollywood in 1984. There was even more blight in 1994 in Hollywood than there was in 1984. The CRA used its power to "remove blight" to demolish many historic structures and put up large projects for the benefit of developers. Then-Councilman Michael Woo, who represented Hollywood at the time (and is now on the city's Urban Planning board), was the son of a major developer with heavy connections to organized crime who got awarded those contracts - thus his family financially benefited from the condemnation of "blight" (not to mention some money went into Triad pockets). That is just one example of CRA corruption.

Under CA state law, any neighborhood can be declared blighted, and many have if a developer and his politician buddies get the urge to make money. Blight is in the eye of the politician making the decisions and those who back him or her. This is one of the reasons I thought that Kelo v. New London and Berman v. Parker were horrible SCOTUS decisions.

[majoun]

The CRA Is Dead: Bonanza for Schools, Police, Fire, Cities and Counties - Ron Kaye L.A.

"Nowhere were the abuses of CRA law more extensive than in Los Angeles where blight came to be defined as any parcel of land that developers could profit from handsomely if given millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies.




"The $52 million parking structure on Bunker Hill for billionaire Eli Broad's personal art museum, Staples Center/LA Live, the Hollywood-Highland project and others that benefit the politically-connected firm CIM Group, the 1601 N. Vine St. office project for runaway film production mogul Hal Katersky are just a few of the hundreds of questionable projects heavility subsidized by LA's CRA.




"Brown also pointed out that the jobs created by the subsidies were largely a myth since cities and counties competed on the size of subsidies they would provide for shopping centers and other projects that were coming to the region or state anyway, meaning all those giveaways of taxpayer money amounted to close to a net zero in terms of job creation.




"The CRA has given away most of its money over the years to projects downtown and in Hollywood and then taken the increased property tax revenue that those projects generated and rolled it over into more projects downtown and in Hollywood.




"The result is that schools, the city and county and the services they provide to the public were denied massive amounts of revenue -- more than $250 million a year."