Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido is heading up an effort to resurrect California’s controversial redevelopment agencies, working with the public relations firm Forde & Mollrich to solicit donations from cities to fund a ballot initiative that would reverse one of Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature policy achievements, according to the Voice of OC.
City contributions would go to a nonprofit setup to draft the Jobs & Economic Development Initiative – termed JEDI – for the November 2014 ballot, which would allow cities to once again capture tax increment revenue, the central component to what was formerly called redevelopment.
Governor Jerry Brown in 2011 pushed to axe some 400 redevelopment agencies across the state, arguing that they diverted much needed tax revenue from schools. Officials with cities dependent on redevelopment reacted with outrage and accusing Sacramento of raiding local revenue streams to solve the state’s budget problems.
So far the Cities of Westminster and Costa Mesa have rejected this idea.
Personally I am glad redevelopment is dead. I suppose you could argue that it did some good things but mostly it handed over public assets to folks who got massive tax breaks in the process. I would rather see private industry pay their own way.
umm. yes. and how is the One Broadway Plaza that you support being funded? By the landlord selling off all of his State Redevelopment Funded holding properties for the sake of Wall Street and Corporate America.
Don’t worry Pedroza.
I am going to hold your hand through this process.
Yikes!
You cannot undo past redevelopment schemes. Which is why you need to avoid bringing redevelopment back.
Pulido still convinces people that he is a Democrat.
That is hilarious. He is as Fascist as you and me.
umm. much more so actually.
He is going to run pretty girl Onofre for CM isn’t he?
and for what purpose?
No. She is going to go to law school.
They say that politics make for strange bedfellow’s.
It’s not lost on me that Councilmember Benavides distpatched his business partner, Christine Villegas to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Inc (CHCI). representing Los Angeles based The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), an organization whose entire basis is: REDEVELOPMENT!
With their real estate firm said to be underwater (the website is down and the office looks empty), these guys need a new gravy train. For her part, Villegas seems to have at least something on the ball, but, one could question her choice of men.
So imagine the Mayor and his failed opponent working/reaching into for the same bucket of cash.
This should be great political theatre.