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Economic Survey Finds Plurality of Californians Supportive of Occupy
I was dismissive of the Occupy movement, until the kids got pepper sprayed at UC Davis. My daughter is a sophomore there, and this event hit close to home. The UC students/protesters/occupiers have a legitimate beef. The university has been cutting student services, tuition/fees continually increase and the Governor recently announced more mid-year cuts to education, even as UC executives were recently awarded massive salary increases. There is something wrong here. Furthermore, employment prospects for these kids are not hopeful. Many would-be retirees are holding onto their jobs out of fear or because their retirement funds evaporated in the financial meltdown. The best bet for recovery is to fund education, so the next generation will have the necessities for digging out of the hole our generation created. Oh, and by the way, statewide redevelopment gets 40% of its funding - that’s $2 billion annually – by siphoning money away from education. If Governor Brown has done anything right, it is going after redevelopment.— December 14, 2011 10:12 a.m.
San Diego Redevelopment: They Prey, We Pray
The best way for the Organizing Project to address the inequities in San Diego redevelopment is to push for the abolition of redevelopment agencies and the reversal of Mayor Sanders’ $4 billion wish list. At the City Council hearing, where they ultimately authorized the expenditure of $4 billion in future tax increment via a series of cooperation agreements, the Independent Budget Analyst reported that if redevelopment were to end right at that instant, the City’s general fund budget would gain $20-30 million. We know that the City’s general fund pays $50 million annually, via property tax diversion, to subsidize redevelopment activities. This is money that should go to maintain every neighborhood in San Diego. Based on current evidence, the best guess is that the merger of all redevelopment project areas would not work the way the Organizing Project would hope. Three years ago the City Council determined that Grantville and downtown have a shared asset in the C Street trolley line. Now the Grantville project area is on the hook for $31 million to pay for downtown improvements. Merging project areas may just suck more money into downtown. Further, the Organizing Project should be aware of the anti-community-development nature of redevelopment. In California redevelopment annually diverts $2 billion away from public education. Recently there was an excellent column in the Wall Street Journal by Harvard economics professor Edward Glaeser arguing that funding infrastructure projects at the expense of education actually leads to urban decay. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704… ) His example is Detroit, where historically young people took line jobs, forgoing education. Now, of course, Detroit is a dying city, whose best plan is to bulldoze buildings, returning land to open space. To reverse the trend, the Obama administration wants to dump money into Detroit by creating infrastructure projects, the most absurd of which is light rail. Professor Glaeser’s argument is the cities that are truly vital in the 21st Century value education over infrastructure. The idea that the current model of redevelopment with the current funding mechanism should be used to pay for affordable housing or infrastructure in truly blighted communities is not a model for success. If redevelopment continues, the best reform San Diego could undertake would be to keep funds earmarked for education away from the Redevelopment Agency.— April 14, 2011 6:08 a.m.
CCDC Cancels Propaganda Tour
Here is an alternative to CCDC’s canceled propaganda tour: The Grantville Action Group, in conjunction with the Affordable Housing Coalition of San Diego, will put on a community forum on redevelopment. The title of the event is: “Redevelopment: Abolish or Reform?” Heading the abolish side will be me, Brian Peterson. Heading the reform side will be former SEDC chief Brian Trotier. Together we will discuss Governor Brown’s budget proposal to eliminate redevelopment agencies, and what that means for San Diego. What: Community forum—Redevelopment: Abolish or Reform? When: Wednesday, March 2nd @ 6:30 PM Where: The Salvation Army’s Door of Hope in Birdland (Serra Mesa), 2799 Health Center Drive (Vista Hill Avenue & Health Center Drive), San Diego 92123; one block from Sharp Hospital Why: Community response to Governor Brown’s proposal to abolish redevelopment agencies Who: Affordable Housing Coalition of San Diego and the Grantville Action Group Please be sure to attend. Much of the event will be an open forum, so please be sure to bring your stories of redevelopment successes, failures and abuses. I hope to see everyone there. Thank you. Brian T. Peterson, DVM www.GrantvilleActionGroup.com— February 11, 2011 12:21 p.m.
Jerry Brown Wants to Rein in Redevelopment Scams
The State Controller is looking for evidence of redevelopment fraud. I received this from the GAG (www.GrantvilleActionGroup.com) e-mail list: Steve Mar of the State Controllers Office wants evidence of Redevelopment fraud and abuse type stuff. They are looking at 14 state redevelopment agencies - closest here Coronado's. If you have specific documentation of same, please get it to him at [email protected] or 916 324-7226. He sez they may refer criminal data for investigation.— January 29, 2011 7:43 a.m.
Faulconer Wants to Hasten Downtown Projects
The State Controller is looking for evidence of redevelopment fraud. I received this from the GAG (www.GrantvilleActionGroup.com) e-mail list: Steve Mar of the State Controllers Office wants evidence of Redevelopment fraud and abuse type stuff. They are looking at 14 state redevelopment agencies - closest here Coronado's. If you have specific documentation of same, please get it to him at [email protected] or 916 324-7226. He sez they may refer criminal data for investigation.— January 29, 2011 7:42 a.m.
Faulconer Wants to Hasten Downtown Projects
You may contact Governor Jerry Brown by mail at: Mailing address: Governor Jerry Brown c/o State Capitol, Suite 1173 Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 445-2841 E-mail: http://gov.ca.gov/m_contact.php Fax: 916-558-3160— January 28, 2011 5:54 p.m.
Jerry Brown Wants to Rein in Redevelopment Scams
With regards to redevelopment, the concept of “Sacramento black hole” is a fantasy. Redevelopment enthusiasts like to repeat the “keeping the money local” mantra as a reason for creating redevelopment project areas. The Voice of San Diego has two good articles about how public education, primarily local schools, is the big loser with redevelopment: http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/government/thehall… and http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/opinion/slop/artic… . Sacramento loses, because the state has to backfill the schools’ loss. You may contact Governor Jerry Brown by mail at: Governor Jerry Brown c/o State Capitol, Suite 1173 Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 445-2841 E-mail: http://gov.ca.gov/m_contact.php Tell him you agree with the abolition of redevelopment. This will stop your tax dollars from going into the downtown black hole. www.GrantvilleActionGroup.com— January 27, 2011 11:40 a.m.
Grantville Redevelopment Money Transfer Ruled Permissible
We are currently considering an appeal. In rereading the “tentative” verdict, however, it seems that there is one outstanding issue that Judge Lewis did not address sufficiently. Our attorney is currently researching this. We have until the end of the month to raise this issue with the court, or not, before this becomes the final verdict. www.GrantvilleActionGroup.com— December 24, 2010 11:28 a.m.
Grantville Redevelopment Money Transfer Ruled Permissible
Fortunately, for you fans of responsible redevelopment, the Grantville Action Group inspired, and worked with, State Senator Christine Kehoe on SB 93, which became law this year. SB 93 prevents the theft of tax increment—Grantville-style—from other project areas throughout the state. If TI is to be transferred out of a redevelopment project area in the future, it must go to an adjacent community only, and the project must be shown to be a benefit to the project area. Also, SB 93 prevents government entities from conducting secret, TI-transferring negotiations and settlement agreements, like we suffered in Grantville. So, despite the recent legal setback, the Grantville Action Group achieved one of its goals going in—reform redevelopment and make sure what happened to us will not happen elsewhere. www.GrantvilleActionGroup.com— December 23, 2010 5:02 p.m.
Linda Vista Landmark Skateworld Faces the Wrecking Ball of Redevelopment
Joe, This is a great article. Everything you wrote is consistent with what I have been hearing through my involvement in fighting redevelopment abuse in Grantville. One complaint I hear from Linda Vistans is that all their redevelopment money disappeared. Now, from your article, I know why: it was all transferred out of the Linda Vista project area. Fortunately, this type of loss of revenue from a redevelopment project area will not happen again. In 2008 State Senator Christine Kehoe took note of the Grantville Action Group’s legal effort to stop the transfer of over $31 million in Grantville’s redevelopment proceeds to pay for downtown projects. (They claim that improving the trolley line on C Street and beautifying the County Administration Building will eradicate blight in Grantville.) Kehoe authored SB 93, which will prevent the transfer of tax increment out of redevelopment project areas, except in the strictest of circumstances. This bill passed unanimously through the legislature, Governor Schwarzenegger signed it, and it became law on January 1, 2010. As far as the Grantville Action Group lawsuit, we will be in court on October 29th. If anyone would like to assist redevelopment reform in Grantville, after we helped to gain it for the rest of the state, please go to www.GrantvilleActionGroup.com and donate to the GAG legal fund. Thank you. Brian T. Peterson, DVM Grantville Action Group, CEO— September 1, 2010 4:49 p.m.