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California's redevelopment agencies officially are out of business, effective today. But that doesn't mean that the future of affordable housing is wiped out in the state. The loss of new tax funds will make the process of providing future low- and moderate-income housing for the state's residents much more difficult – but not impossible, experts say. The end of redevelopment money for housing "has everybody in the affordable housing community working to figure out how we continue to do the projects that we've been doing," said Steve Gall, senior vice president in Roseville for USA Properties Fund, "especially since economic...

Oakland unveiled an austere budget Monday that calls for sweeping cuts to community favorites like Children's Fairyland and the Oakland Zoo but keeps police services intact. In all, more than $28 million will be sliced from the budget, mostly from the $388 million general fund. The cuts are due to the loss of redevelopment funds, which Oakland used to fund services and programs across the city. "It's not clean and neat. We wish it were," said Mayor Jean Quan. "For California's older, larger cities, like Oakland, losing these redevelopment funds has been very, very tough." The City Council will discuss...

In a landmark victory for private property owners in the Golden State, the California Supreme Court today upheld a statute abolishing the nearly 400 redevelopment agencies across the state. The court also struck down a law that would have allowed these agencies to buy their way back into existence. The final outcome of the case is that, in 2012, California’s decades-long redevelopment nightmare will finally come to an end.California redevelopment agencies have been some of the worst abusers of eminent domain for decades, violating the private property rights of tens of thousands of home, business, church and farm owners. The...

The end of redevelopment agencies affirmed Thursday by the state Supreme Court deeply affects the East Bay. "This will be devastating to local government," Contra Costa County Assessor Gus Kramer said. The agencies have been a major source of revitalization, jobs and budget support, and most of its cities have redevelopment. Contra Costa itself oversees five districts in unincorporated areas. Oakland's prognosis is particularly poor. Redevelopment this year paid for 171 positions, including 17 police officers and nearly 100 other employees. The ruling also could doom a new stadium for the A's near Jack London Square, where redevelopment funds were...

In a significant budget win for Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday the state can eliminate the local agencies that subsidize construction in blighted areas. The decision strengthens the state's ability to take funds from redevelopment agencies for the current budget. It also provides leverage for state leaders to use more than $1 billion annually in redevelopment property tax dollars to balance future budgets. The court called the elimination of redevelopment "a proper exercise of the legislative power vested in the Legislature by the state Constitution." But justices ruled invalid a second bill that would...

State budgets used to be fairly simple documents, fundamentally allocating whatever financial resources the state might have at the moment among its various, well-delineated responsibilities. No more. Proposition 13, enacted in 1978, had the indirect effect of centralizing major financial decision-making affecting local governments and schools in the Capitol. Those decisions were affected by subsequent ballot measures, and volatile revenue swings put the budget in a more or less permanent deficit condition. Today's budgets are complex packages not only of appropriations but of legislation to legalize, or so it's assumed, the political decisions. And that inevitably means that after budgets...

Castro Valley, Calif., is the spot where the East Bay meets the 1950s. In the old parts of town, there's a white rock lawn on every block. First names are big -- as in Al's Food Market, Gigi's Florist and Pete's Hardware. Residents boast about the parks and go fishing at Lake Chabot. Castro Valley is famous for its diners. No dinner crowds -- they close in the afternoon. If you're looking for fast food, you can find it on Castro Valley Boulevard. There are no high-end retail outlets or chichi restaurants. You don't see pairings of pedestrians enjoying a...

In December 2003, Bruce Ratner, a real estate tycoon and part-owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball team, held a press conference in New York City to announce his latest project, a 22-acre "urban utopia" called the Atlantic Yards. The idea was to transform downtown Brooklyn by erecting 16 office and residential skyscrapers, a luxury 180-room hotel, and a fancy new arena for the Nets. Standing by Ratner's side that day was the architect Frank Gehry, who told the press he was particularly excited "to build a whole neighborhood practically from scratch." It was a revealing statement. After all, the...

California's plan to dismantle redevelopment agencies was put on hold today by the state Supreme Court, which plans to decide by January whether the state's elimination of the program is legal. The court agreed to allow a lawsuit, which challenges the legality of the elimination of redevelopment, to move forward, and said the program can continue to exist while the case is pending. It also set an expedited schedule, saying it plans to issue a final opinion by mid-January on whether the Legislature had the power to eliminate the economic development program. And while the decision allows redevelopment agencies to...

In Sacramento, Governor Jerry Brown is planning to close California’s $26.6 billion structural deficit through spending cuts and tax extensions. Opposition has been spirited but less contentious than expected, probably because of the size of the budget hole. But one item of Brown’s plan—something that would save about $1.7 billion annually—has generated heated debates between local officials and the new administration. The governor has proposed eliminating California’s approximately 400 redevelopment agencies (RDAs). In theory, RDAs spearhead blight removal. In fact, they divert billions of dollars from traditional services, such as schools, parks, and firefighting; use eminent domain to seize property...

California Gov. Jerry Brown won the blame game and lost the budget. Brown began with a proposal to put a measure on the ballot to extend the 2009 tax increases on income taxes, sales taxes and the vehicle license fee. It was a gamble. Voters rejected a similar tax measure in 2009. Most GOP lawmakers have signed no-new-taxes pledges. Even Brown didn't dare campaign on today's tax plan -- and he's a Democrat.Then came the bargaining. Republicans say that Brown wouldn't give on spending dear to the public-employee unions that helped elect him. The Brownies say that the Party of...

The problem with government as it has out-grown its intended and justified limits is not that it’s become too Democrat or too Republican. The problem with it is exemplified in California’s redevelopment laws. They are welfare for corporations, for business interests picked to win by politicians, for tax burdens to be shouldered by you, Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer...

With $7.4 billion worth of budget slicing behind them, Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic leaders will try again today to secure the Assembly vote for redevelopment cuts that eluded them Wednesday. Here was Brown's take on the day's work: "Lot of good work on the side of the Senate Republicans. Great work by the Democrats in the Assembly. But for the Republicans, for some reason, known only to them, they don't want to balance the budget with cuts. And they don't appear to want to balance it with new revenues. So they must want a profound, continuing unbalanced budget. And...

Lawmakers took their first bite out of Gov. Jerry Brown's budget Wednesday, cutting about $7.4 billion across state government and clearing a significant share of the $26.6 billion deficit. But Democratic leaders, and Brown in particular, spent much of the day behind closed doors in an unsuccessful effort to persuade reticent legislators to eliminate roughly 400 agencies that fund redevelopment projects and save the state another $1.7 billion. Cities have mounted a fierce campaign to block the proposal, fearful of losing control over billions of dollars that would flow to schools, counties and public safety instead of civic projects. Democrats...

Why are so many people who are opposed to development nevertheless in favor of "redevelopment"? The short answer is that development involves decisions made in the market by large numbers of people in the general population, in their own personal interests, while redevelopment involves taking decisions out of the hands of the population at large and putting the power to make those decisions in the hands of elites. Developers who build housing to sell to the public are the focus of many denunciations by elites in places like coastal California. But developers would not even exist if there were...

Local redevelopment agencies have pushed through nearly $690 million in bonds sales during the first two months of this year -- that's more than half of the $1.2 billion in debt those agencies took on in all of 2010, according to figures the state treasurer's office compiled. Furthermore, given the shaky market, local governments are borrowing money at high rates -- increasing the amount of property tax revenue that will go to lenders, said Tom Dresslar, a treasury department spokesman. "They're flooding the market with these bonds at a time when the market sucks from an issuer's perspective," Dresslar said....

Local government leaders across California are hurriedly shifting redevelopment agency properties and money into city coffers ahead of a possible state move to abolish redevelopment and redistribute unspent funds. It's unclear if such maneuvers will work. Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed budget also contains language allowing some of the transfers to be reversed or at the least wind up in court. "This is going to be lawyers' delight," said John Shirey, executive director of the California Redevelopment Association. Among the moves this week: • Sacramento city officials approved the transfer of $1.4 million in redevelopment money to the city for a...

The state controller has completed a review of 18 California redevelopment agencies and concluded their "lack of accountability and transparency is a breeding ground for waste, abuse and impropriety." Controller John Chiang has determined that, for an activity consuming "more than $5.5 billion of public resources annually, we should be troubled that there are no objective performance measures demonstrating that taxpayers are receiving optimal return for each invested dollar." The review ticked off agency shortcomings, failures and questionable activities, including ...

In a purely political sense, Gov. Jerry Brown wants to eliminate local redevelopment agencies and shift much of their tax money to other services for the same reason that legendary bandit Willie Sutton reputedly robbed banks – "because that's where the money is." Brown wants to recapture a third of the $5 billion-plus that more than 400 redevelopment agencies skim off the top of the property tax pot each year. He also wants to eliminate local "enterprise zones" and their tax breaks, and tap into a special fund, financed by surtaxes on high-income taxpayers, that pays for mental health services,...

When Gov. Jerry Brown proposed to eliminate more than 400 local redevelopment agencies and redirect their property taxes into schools and other local governments, he ignited what's shaping up to be a very sharp political firefight. The billions of dollars at stake are motivating the redevelopment industry – that's a very appropriate term in this case – to deploy heavy political artillery as critics mount their assault. For years, the latter have contended that redevelopment agencies skim billion of dollars in property taxes that would be better spent elsewhere while arrogantly seizing land from private owners, blithely shoveling money into...

GOP Assemblyman Chris Norby is a former Orange County supervisor with a longtime and deep aversion to California's 425 redevelopment agencies. Some redevelopment zones might eliminate blight and provide low-income housing as originally intended, he concedes, but redevelopment also allows billions of tax dollars to bankroll the building of a lot of half-empty shopping malls as well as sweetheart deals that pad the pockets of well-connected developers. As Norby put it, redevelopment has served as an "unknown government" that feeds "the most wasteful, the most fraudulent, and the most abusive" spending in California government. When Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown was...

Gov. Jerry Brown defended his controversial plan to eliminate redevelopment agencies in California, speaking at an event hosted by one of the biggest supporters of the agencies and telling them his plan is what's best for the state. Afterward, Brown told reporters that some of the more than $1.5 billion of redevelopment projects approved by cities in recent days - essentially an end run around his proposal - may not be legal.At a gathering for new mayors and council members hosted by the League of California Cities, which has been one of the most vocal opponents of Brown's plan, the...

Cities and counties across California are putting more than $1 billion in redevelopment projects on the fast track in an apparent attempt to beat Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to eliminate redevelopment agencies. At least three cities – Los Angeles, Fremont, and Citrus Heights – approved projects in special meetings Friday and Monday, the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. Los Angeles approved $930 million in projects, while Fremont signed off on up to $140 million in work, and Citrus Heights authorized about $60 million for redevelopment. Riverside County expects to discuss $155 million in redevelopment projects today. Redevelopment advocates said...

In a time of shrinking government revenues and service cutbacks, a growing number of critics — now led by Gov. Jerry Brown — are questioning whether divvying up tax revenue makes sense. Brown asked the Legislature last week to dissolve all of the state’s 425 redevelopment agencies, saying the taxes they divert force the state to spend $1.8 billion a year on schools that would otherwise come from property taxes. “We’re spending money at the local level that the state doesn’t have,” Brown said. Under his proposal, the money would go to “core services” such as education, law enforcement and...

The old All Star Dodge dealership in Banning looked to be just another ghost of business past in a town hit hard by a sour economy. But that didn't keep the city's redevelopment agency from paying top dollar for it — and then some. Without an independent appraisal, agency board members, who double as the City Council, shelled out $1.2 million for the vacant property in July 2009. It still sits empty. "Everything about that deal stinks," said Philipp Goebels, editor of The Banning Informer website, which devotes much of its attention to the city's "redevelopment disasters." A Riverside County...

Woman Sets Self On Fire To Protest Demolition Of Home by Fauna on November 30, 2009 From Mop: A female entrepreneur in Chengdu sets herself on fire on the roof of her building because of demolition Summary: November 13, early morning, a horrific “eviction and demolition” incident occurred on Tianhuizhen street in Jingniu district of Chengdu city. The female owner tried to use death to fight the go-vern-ment organized demolition crew, eventually “self-immolating” on the building’s roof, burnt beyond recognition, her life hanging by a thread. Whether it is residents being arrested, residents being hurt and hospitalized, the go-vern-ment department...

"grand jihad in eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within" Islamic Society of Boston Mosque Madness Update. "Texas Terrorism Trial Ties Boston mosque leaders to Extremist Network," from Citizens for Peace and Tolerance (thanks to Jerry): Dennis Hale, President of Citizens for Peace and Tolerance, called today for a public investigation of the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s sale of land to the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) for the construction of New England ’s largest mosque. Hale noted that officers of the largest Muslim charity in America , The Holy Land Foundation (HLF), convicted in Texas last week of funding Middle...

Times Square is crammed with tourists, and not just for New Year's Eve. These days, they're eager to gawk at the glittering lights of Broadway and visit attractions like Madame Tussauds Wax Museum and the MTV studios. But 15 years ago, the place was considered a cesspool, overrun with crime and home to sex shops and peep shows. Drug addicts shot up on the street. Locals avoided the neighborhood. The man who has taken the credit for revitalizing Times Square is GOP presidential hopeful and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani. He has made Times Square a symbol for how he tamed...

09/29/2006   GAAS:706:06   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   Gov. Schwarzenegger Signs Legislation to Protect Private Property Rights Gov. Schwarzenegger signed legislation today that protects the rights of private property owners.   “Government must respect the private property rights of our citizens,� said Gov. Schwarzenegger. “I am proud to sign legislation to further enhance the protection of property rights of Californians.�   Specifically, Gov. Schwarzenegger signed the following five bills:   SB 53 by Senator Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) requires an agency to make additional findings of blight if the agency wishes to extend the time limits on its authorization for eminent-domain actions. This bill would...

Where Wichita's housing director Mary Kay Vaughn sees a chance to rebuild faltering neighborhoods, some property rights advocates see an opening for big government to snatch away people's homes. Early discussions about creating a redevelopment authority in Wichita have sparked polarized opinions. The Wichita City Council is considering setting up a five-member redevelopment authority that could acquire rundown properties and turn them over to developers who want to renovate them or build new houses, apartments or businesses in their place. The authority would get the properties by buying them from willing sellers, buying tax-foreclosed properties, or forcing unwilling property owners...

Investigators from a federal watchdog agency are coming to Los Angeles to meet with a group of business owners who allege that the city redevelopment agency has abused its eminent domain powers by forcing out their thriving enterprises to make way for other businesses. Robert Blue, the owner of Bernard Luggage Co. in Hollywood, said Tuesday that he was approached by a representative of the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan investigative and research arm of Congress, which is studying eminent domain practices nationwide. The local business owners said they planned to highlight at least three examples of what they considered...

With every developer West of the Mississippi drooling over the chance to develop some 1/4 acre of the Concord Naval Weapons Station, it seems every politician and city planner worth their salt is now talking about “affordable housing.” But what is “affordable housing” in California?Since normal people know that “affordable housing” doesn’t really exist in the regions of California where normal people really want to live, what is it that big-government, pro-redevelopment politcos really mean when they yap on and on about “affordable housing” this campaign season?Two words: Subsidized Housing.When you look at it, most everything about housing in California...

In some countries the use of eminent domain can be a life or death issue. Last June, in the small village of Shengyou, China, six people were killed and 50 injured in a bloody clash between farmers and hundreds of armed thugs sent by government operatives to seize their land. This was just one of thousands of disputes over land appropriation that take place each year in China Fueling these conflicts is the ambiguous nature of property ownership in China. The rights of farmers who hold land collectively are not made clear under Chinese law. Although farmers can acquire property...

In June, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled government has the right to seize homes to make way for private redevelopment, it set off fear in the hearts of homeowners and lawmakers alike. A flurry of bills and state ballot initiatives have been introduced in response to concern that the court's decision can put anyone's property up for grabs through eminent domain. That case, Kelo v. City of New London, Conn., involved seizure of waterfront homes to allow the nonprofit New London Development Group to develop a hotel and health club near a new research center. It wasn't a blighted...

Dozens of major firms that relocated to Houston after Hurricane Katrina are unlikely to return to Louisiana unless they get a positive message from state policymakers by January, business leaders told lawmakers on Thursday. "Our hearts are in New Orleans but we have shareholders," said Richard Bachmann, chairman and chief executive officer of Energy Partners, a New Orleans oil and gas exploration firm that has moved key operations to Houston. Bachmann spoke for the leaders of about 50 firms that represent oil, banking, manufacturing and hospitality interests who are trying to decide whether to stay in Houston or return their...

Yorba Linda City Clerk Will Not Certify "Right to Vote" Initiative In what appears to be a classic legal delay tactic on behalf of the City of Yorba Linda, City Clerk Kathy Mendoza will not certify the "Yorba Linda Right to Vote Amendment." On advice from her independent legal counsel, the Clerk would not certify the petition, based on a 1999 Appellate Court interpretation of the State Election Code. Rather than go into the complex details of the case and the actions of the City Clerk in this text, you can download the complete report at Yorba Linda Forum....

The city of San Diego, with its much-admired downtown ballpark and Horton Plaza projects, has long been the poster child for the wise use of eminent domain: the right of government to seize private property, with just compensation, for what it deems public benefit. But after two outrageous stories in two weeks, a pair of local government bodies may find themselves held up as poster children for eminent domain's misuse – and deservedly. First came a report on the San Diego Model School Development Agency's push to seize and demolish 188 homes in the thriving City Heights neighborhood to build...

This coming Saturday, August 11th, I will address the Coalition for Redevelopment Reform in San Jose concerning our efforts to restore the private property rights of Californians through the Homeowner and Property Protection Act (SCA 15). I look forward to meeting fellow advocates of curbing eminent domain abuse and strengthening the support base for SCA 15. Nothing would send a louder message of the strength of our effort than citizens demanding that government return to its natural role as the defender of our property rights. The meeting is open to the public and I urge you to join me on...

Landowners become PALS to combat eminent domain by predatory L.A. redevelopment wolf-PACS Wednesday, August 03, 2005 With all the media hullabaloo about the recent U.S. Supreme Court case eminent domain ruling, one would think that local redevelopment agencies are hunkered down in bunkers fearing the wave of new legislation being proposed in California and other states to eliminate the use of eminent domain for redevelopment projects. Not so in Los Angeles where the City Council has adopted new procedures which will grab power away from eight citizen advisory committees for redevelopment projects, called Project Area Committees or PACS. In reaction...

An idea to pay a nearby community to build Mission Viejo's share of low-income homes fails. A short-lived idea in Mission Viejo to pay a neighboring community to provide its share of low-cost housing has renewed debate on whether the master-planned city is doing enough to create such housing. SNIP Last year, city officials angered housing advocates by twice rejecting plans for an apartment complex that would have fulfilled the city's low-cost housing obligation. The housing debate in upscale Mission Viejo has been rekindled by an idea quietly raised two months ago by Planning Commissioner Brad Morton, who suggested the...

PALMDALE - The ink was hardly dry on Wednesday's 5-4 Supreme Court decision widening community powers of eminent domain when Mayor Jim Ledford and the City Council found themselves confronted over the site where construction has begun for a new Valley hospital. Council members will meet Monday night in closed session to discuss a threatened eminent-domain action brought by the Antelope Valley Healthcare District to seize a 30-acre parcel southeast of Palmdale Boulevard and Tierra Subida where a private hospital would be built by Universal Health Services of Pennsylvania. Palmdale and the city's Community Redevelopment Agency share a stake in...

The name Vignali receded into L.A. history after the “Pardongate” scandal of 2001, but questions remain about drug-dealing son Carlos and his real estate magnate father, Horacio, who just might be pulling the strings in the remaking of downtown L.A. --snip--- “Justice Undone: Clemency Decisions in the Clinton White House,” House Report 107-454, documents the involvement of Hugh Rodham, the brother of Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the Vignali affair. Rodham was Horacio Vignali’s chief lobbyist inside the White House and received more than $200,000 for his services. The two met through Los Angeles attorney James Casso in October 2000, according...

SANTA CRUZ — Downtown property owner Ron Lau vows he will fight the city’s attempt to seize his land for redevelopment. "That’s unfortunate and misguided and just a flaw in how we as human beings operate," Lau said of the city Redevelopment Agency’s plans to condemn his Pacific Avenue property that has been sitting empty since the Loma Prieta earthquake leveled much of the area in 1989. A Hawaiian native who lives in Watsonville, Lau is a self-described free spirit who doesn’t like to be told what to do or when to do it. He owns the gaping concrete pit...

EAST PEORIA - An Iraqi minister has encouraged Caterpillar Inc. to establish a base of operations in the Middle Eastern country. "Iraq has been in a state of disrepair for 40 years. There's a lot of work to be done, and Caterpillar could play a role in that redevelopment," said Iraqi Minister of Transportation Behnam Polis, who spoke Monday at the Par-A-Dice Hotel, site of the International Construction Innovations Conference, sponsored by Bradley University. "We are looking to partner with the best companies in the world. Caterpillar has roots in Iraq that go back to the 1950s. I would like...

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proved he is serious about bringing a NFL team back to Los Angles, signing a bill Thursday to help boost the redevelopment of the Los Angeles Coliseum, according to the L.A. Times. Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 2805, which essentially aids the Hoover Redevelopment Zone by committing specific tax revenue to the stadium project. It is important to note the money generated can't be used on the stadium specifically, but it could defray the cost of surrounding infrastructure by $25 million to $30 million. However, Schwarzenegger's willingness to sign the bill in the first place seems to...

<p>One writer called it "the Dresden of eminent domain cases."</p> <p>Two decades ago, Detroit's Poletown neighborhood was leveled to make way for a General Motors Corp. auto plant. Turned to rubble was an area of more than 1,200 homes, 140 businesses, six churches and a hospital.</p>

Miami's Community Redevelopment Agency gave a little-known painter about $24,000 in cash and subsidies over a one-year period as part of an obscure ''Artist-in-Residence'' program tailor-made for him, not long before negotiating a deal to buy his late father's church. Ernest King, an often-homeless street artist with a felony arrest record, received food vouchers, clothing allowances, and even hundreds of dollars for paintings paid by Miami Commissioner Arthur Teele Jr. and then-CRA Director Annette Lewis, who were then reimbursed by the CRA, records from the city's finance department show. Taxpayer payout to King from the CRA: $11,000 -- rent $7,860...

CALIFORNIA CITY - Facing opposition from landowners, California City has postponed until July a decision to use eminent domain to secure land for a proposed Hyundai Motor Co.-Kia Motor Corp. test track facility. The decision gives property owners and the city nearly a month to continue negotiations for sale of the properties without resorting to eminent domain proceedings. "It is the city's philosophy not to use eminent domain except as a last resort," City Manager Jack Stewart said. The City Council, meeting as the Redevelopment Agency, voted 3-2 June 3 on a resolution that would begin eminent domain proceedings to...

<p>A modern, mass transit friendly village for an aging population is one vision for an often ignored section of Auburn Boulevard.</p> <p>Citrus Heights city officials are being challenged to look 25 years ahead as they decide how to revamp nearly two miles of Auburn Boulevard, stretching from Roseville into the heart of Citrus Heights.</p>

<p>When Gov. Gray Davis unveiled his $10.2 billion down payment on closing the state's immense budget deficit, now calculated at about $35 billion, a significant chunk was grabbing the estimated $500 million in housing money that local redevelopment agencies have accumulated but not spent.</p>