Redevelopment money is basically welfare for developers, and we're talking billions. Gov. Brown wants to dissolve all the Redevelopment Agencies throughout Calif, (just about every town has one) and divert those funds to social services such as to the poor, medical etc. This is a big deal, because much of the redevelopment money in the coffers of each city has already been earmarked for different developments. Many are half way started. Some city planners and developers think that if the money has already been earmarked, that the State can't take it back, but that may not be the case. At this point no one knows what Brown's intentions are, because it hasn't been spelled out completely.
Basically, redevelopment money is a slush fund for developers to ask for in return for building X amount of affordable housing. But it became that that so called "affordable housing" was not in anyway affordable. Some two/three bedroom condos at the height of the market were selling for over $4 hundred thousand.
We are talking millions of your tax dollars going to builders, who in turn were using illegal aliens to build those homes. Oh, how our government funneled our tax dollars to that underground economy!!! But when the money got short, things became very apparent.
The original purpose of Redevelopment money was to address blight, or aging neighborhoods and to fix up those neighborhoods. It was not meant for new construction, except to help with affordable housing. That was the hurdle builders needed to address to get at the funds. But the builders found ways around that and the city councils went along with them.
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02-20-2011, 01:59 PM
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