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Permit an insolvent city to subsidize a Charger stadium?
Here’s an example of a neighborhood getting screwed to further enrich downtown: Grantville. The City and the County resolved their differences over Grantville redevelopment by agreeing Grantville should send over $31 million of its tax increment to fund downtown improvements. The immediate beneficiary is the C Street trolley line from Kettner to Park Blvd. In September of ’08 the Grantville Action Group filed suit to stop this arrangement, because it is blatantly illegal. So, as if it is not bad enough that downtown sucks money legally—although not legitimately—through diverting its property tax receipts, in Grantville’s case they elected to break the law to take it. The Grantville trial date is October 29. So far, we have collected over $45,000 in contributions to fund our endeavor. We are still a few thousand short of full funding. If you would like to contribute to our effort to rein in San Diego’s plutocrats, go to www.GrantvilleActionGroup.com.— August 13, 2010 2:44 p.m.
Very few of San Diego's ballpark condos were built because of the ballpark
Response to post #11: In June I pointed out to the City Council how they could raise enough cash to restore all the public safety cuts: don’t lift the cap on downtown redevelopment. Here is a commentary I wrote for the Voice of San Diego on the subject: http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/letters/article_35… . Currently, downtown redevelopment diverts at least $25 million from the City’s general fund annually. Seemingly, they would like that to continue into perpetuity. Perhaps, when we vote down the sales tax increase, they will see things differently.— August 1, 2010 6:36 a.m.
Very few of San Diego's ballpark condos were built because of the ballpark
Despite the condo glut downtown, the current plans on the table for Grantville redevelopment call for adding 11,000 condos to the project area. To make this even more insane, the City’s own economic analysis of the project area says that for this plan to be economically feasible, the units need to sell or lease for the same price as those downtown. Undeterred, the developers who dominate the Grantville “Stakeholders” Committee accepted this as great news. After all, the economics don’t really matter to them, because they will be using public funds in the form of tax increment to subsidize this folly. We can stop this by supporting the Grantville Action Group’s legal challenge of the Grantville Settlement Agreement, which will send over $31 million of the Grantville tax increment to downtown to subsidize more construction there. If we can block the City’s and the County’s agreement, we can stop the redevelopment. We will be in court on Oct. 29. If you would like to help, go to www.GrantvilleActionGroup.com.— July 30, 2010 5:56 a.m.
Mayor Sanders joins Marco LiMandri against conflict charges
Special assessment districts—BIDs, MADs—are a ripe environment for corruption. The whole process starts, when an “engineer” draws the district to maximize the votes in favor of forming the district. Remember, BIDs and MADs are created by a weighted vote. The owners of the largest parcels get the most votes. Li Mandri is one of these “engineers,” who will gerrymander the district to rig the election. The City likes BIDs and MADs, because they are way to raise revenue to provide for neighborhood services. In the case of a MAD, the fee is tacked onto the property tax. The City is using this to circumvent Proposition 13. It’s no surprise you found corruption. The surprise is that Li Manrdri has his fingers in North Bay, too. Also note that both districts are in redevelopment areas and redevelopment is another cesspool of corruption. Here is a link to a commentary I wrote about MADs and BIDs: http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-12-08/blog/a-mo… . This was based on an excellent academic paper co-authored by Vladimir Kogan of UCSD. In the comments section there is a link to this paper. Also, Joe Deegan of the Reader wrote an excellent article about the Golden Hill MAD.— March 4, 2010 6:14 a.m.
More ballpark lies from Oregon this time
Economics Research Associates gave a residual land value analysis report at the last Grantville Stakeholders Committee meeting. Residual land value is the economic value of a property for the property’s owner, i.e. the current income generated from the current leases, compared to the return to the owner after redevelopment. The ERA analysis concluded that redeveloping Grantville from commercial/light industrial to urban mixed-use is only feasible near the San Diego River and near the Grantville trolley stop. To reach this conclusion, they assumed the current properties would be replaced by high rises and that the units in these high rises would sell or rent for essentially the same price as similar units downtown. The obvious conclusion is that it does not make economic sense to redevelop Grantville. The developers and real estate agents in the room, however, tried to spin this as good news and were still eager to redevelop. Evidently, they have no problem speculating with public money backed by tax increment.— October 29, 2009 6:17 a.m.
Chargers Won’t Fulfill Desires in San Diego
The City of Industry is notorious among redevelopment abuse activists. It is the only city wherein it is all a redevelopment project area. This means that all property tax collected there is tax increment. 67% of it may stay in Industry to promote more development. This is how they will finance a stadium for the Chargers. Currently, lobbyists for Industry in Sacramento are trying to promote legislation to extend the lifespan of their “redevelopment project,” specifically to finance the stadium for the Chargers, and in exchange for giving a cut of the tax increment back to the state. The Chargers will be going there sooner, rather than later. For you die-hard Chargers fans, it’s still driving distance.— September 10, 2009 8:08 a.m.
Bruce Henderson: no room for a Chargers stadium downtown
The Grantville Action Group’s proposed eminent domain reform amendment for the Grantville redevelopment plan was written by the Grantville Action Group’s attorney. Its beauty is that it takes the best from the eminent domain reforms that have passed in most states…except California. We believe it is legal, and it would stand up to the highest scrutiny. The primary objections from the City are not about the amendment’s legality, but that it may set “a bad precedent” or that it may not be consistent with redevelopment policy. We know that the Grantville plan, for example, states that the government does not need to acquire property via any means for redevelopment to go forward. We also believe that preserving civil liberties is good policy.— July 16, 2009 9:11 a.m.
Bruce Henderson: no room for a Chargers stadium downtown
The concept of hiring private attorneys, who live in another city, is the government’s classic response to the citizens pushing back against eminent domain abuse. As a reference, read Abuse of Power: How the Government Misuses Eminent Domain by Steven Greenhut. City Attorneys, who in their hearts feel they are representing the citizens, don’t really want to litigate against San Diegans fighting for their rights. This is why the Redevelopment Agency hires an outside attorney with no responsibility to the community. Also, if you would like to understand how over-redeveloping Downtown sucks money away from, and adds to the decay of, the other neighborhoods, check out www.Redevelopment.com. Here you may download the book Redevelopment: The Unknown Government. This will give you the basics of the tax increment diversion scam. And, if you want to help Grantville, go to www.GrantvilleActionGroup.com and donate to the GAG legal fund.— July 16, 2009 7:58 a.m.
Bruce Henderson: no room for a Chargers stadium downtown
In writing of the downtown redevelopment black hole, you have to mention Grantville. Downtown cheerleaders aren’t satisfied with only their tax increment. Now, based on the Grantville settlement agreement, downtown is sucking in over $31 million of Grantville’s tax increment. The ultimate beneficiary is the County Administration Building. This is clearly illegal according to the Health & Safety Code. This is why the Grantville Action Group has filed suit to stop this money transfer and to block the settlement agreement. If you would like to see your tax increment stay in your project area, please support our lawsuit. Donate at www.GrantvilleActionGroup.com.— July 9, 2009 6 a.m.
Condemned
There’s no doubt that April is a smart lady, knows her District and would do a fine job as a city councilmember. That said, there’s also no doubt that she is also a City Hall insider (mainly through her association with Dick Murphy); no matter how fast she tries to run from that label. Marti Emerald is a Grantville Action Group supporter, and she has stated that she opposes the Grantville redevelopment project and all that entails. I am encouraging our group to support the candidates who support us. What I recall her saying about subsidies for sports teams at our GAG meeting in November is that she considered John Moores and Alex Spanos friends, but she would not support public subsidies for their ventures. (One of our objections to redevelopment is that it amounts to public subsidies for big business.) My wife and I have donated to, and campaigned for, Marti. April does not support our group. As part of the status quo, she can’t. The status quo and the well-connected are who got the City into this mess. It’s time to give someone outside of the system a chance in D-7.— May 23, 2008 2:03 p.m.