Redevelopment vs. the Principles of the California Republican Assembly
I was recently asked by a fellow member of the CRA why I felt that Redevelopment Agencies were bad for the public. After my long dissertation (found throughout this blog and elsewhere), I boiled it down to the CRA’s own principles.
7. That the market economy, based upon capitalism and free enterprise, allocating resources by the free play of supply and demand, is the greatest system for creating personal freedom, a strong constitutional government, and is the most productive supplier of human need.
8. That when government interferes with the free enterprise system or attempts to control the economy by taking from one individual to bestow upon another, it diminishes the incentive of the first, the integrity of the second, and the moral autonomy of both.
Redevelopment TAKES (purchases at “fair market value”) property from one person and GIVES it (usually for FREE) to another under the auspices of “the public good”. On it’s face it should be apparent that this practice is inconsistent with the CRA’s principles. The public coffers should not fund private development and give one developer/investor an unfair advantage over another.
As I’m sweating out the heat on the way home from my crappy job, it’s nice to know that my taxes went to pay for that nice pool which I’m not allowed to use.
Maybe I’ll cool off in Laguna Lake tonight.
Thanks for the great post Greg, keep ’em coming.
Sebourn for Council!
After reading two short paragraphs, I can already tell that Greg is at least 10 times smarter than Mayor Bankhead.
greg, I hope you seek to end the theft of our tax dollars by ending Fullerton’s Redevelopment Agency scheme of funneling taxes into projects that only benefit the schemers
Do you think it is possible to UN-DO the present Council’s vote to expand the Redevelopment areas in Fullerton?
If so, which other candidates would you count on to vote with you to reverse that last (illegal) Council action?
Also (for Admin) could you please update-recap the status of your lawsuit against the Redevelopment expansion? Thanks again for your good citizenship!
I will end the Fullerton Redevelopment Agency. There are many other ways to address the low-income housing issues that don’t require tax dollars being used to force the eviction and subsequent private development that ultimately hurts far more people than it benefits. Redevelopment is the single most expensive way a city can fight blight. We have a municipal code full of useful laws and regulations for dealing with graffiti, dilapidated homes, absentee slum lords, and various deplorable conditions. And yet, it is rarely used. Instead, we use the municipal code to cite kids riding their bicycles on vacant lots.
I am not an attorney but I see no reason why we couldn’t cut our losses and drop the expansion. I am concerned that there is much more to the expansion than what you and I might see on the surface. With that understanding, I am cautiously optimistic that we could end it all and restore the property tax revenues back to their respective allocations.
As for who would also vote to end the Fullerton Redevelopment Agency thereby stopping the expansion, I have to defer the question to the other candidates. The only other outspoken critic of redevelopment that I am aware of is Bruce Whitaker.
There is undoubtedly more than you see. We did some posts last summer about likely big schemes in the proposed expansion area: the old Stone plant on Raymond and the northeast corner of Brookhurst and Orangethorpe to name two.
Good answer Greg!
And watch out for Commonwealth west of Richman…
greg, I am holding you to your promise to end Fullerton’s redevelopment agency
Hold me to it. Hold every candidate to their campaign message. That is the sort of accountability that has been missing from City Hall.
Actually, Fullerton candidates HARDLY EVER make any promises at. They almost always run as the this or that faction candidate.