California redevelopment agencies face extinction

With the elimination of community redevelopment agencies throughout California now looming, state legislators have begun looking for a last-minute way of postponing the shutdown.

On Friday, lawmakers introduced a bipartisan measure that would save the agencies from being shut down by February 1. But it's not certain that they have support from legislative leaders or from Gov. Jerry Brown, the Associated Press reported.

State Senator Alex Padilla, a Los Angeles Democrat, said he and other lawmakers want to extend the deadline for closing approximately 400 redevelopment agencies across the state. According to the AP, he said an extension to April 15 is needed to give the agencies time to work with the state to continue existing economic development projects and set up a process for handing off their assets and liabilities.

The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday on the dire prospects of the Los Angeles city redevelopment agency—an organization that "spent decades revitalizing downtown, Hollywood and other areas of the city." The paper reported that the LA City Council, by a 9-3 vote, decided it could not afford to rescue the agency and its 192 employees.

"The reality of the situation is the [agency] as we know it is dead," The Times quoted Council President Herb Wesson as saying.

"In Los Angeles, dozens of redevelopment projects are now in question, including new housing in downtown, Little Tokyo, Boyle Heights, Hollywood, Reseda and South Los Angeles," according to the paper. "Also in jeopardy are planned parks, street repairs and renovation of a 13-story office building in Panorama City...."

Redevelopment agencies have been criticized in some quarters for financing big-box retailers, sports complexes, and other projects that are seen as contrary to the agencies' original mission.

It appears that if a redevelopment agency's host city does not take responsibility for the agency's asets and liabilities, the state would have to accept them. 

Gov. Brown, a Democrat, has said the state needs the property taxes that are generated by development, and wants to use the money to support "core services" such as local schools and law enforcement, rather than letting the revenue be used by redevelopment agencies for future development projects. 

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