Will Redevelopment Borrow Another $29,000,000 Tonight?
Acting as the Redevelopment Agency, the City Council will be voting on a $29,000,000 bond tonight. City staff estimate the total cost to taxpayers for the bond at about $45,500,000 over the next 16 years. $45.5-million! The RDA is the only agency that can issue bonds without voter approval. It is completely unethical for our elected council members to break out the taxpayers’ credit card while our library’s hours are reduced, workers are furloughed, and employees salaries are cut. Shame on the Redevelopment Agency staff and shame on any council member who votes for this bond!
Why should we be upset about the RDA spending $29,000,000? Because, as the OC Register reported in July, the Fullerton Redevelopment Agency spent $22,700,000 to evict 600 low-income residents, bulldoze their homes to make room for a few low-income condos. This is on top of another half-baked idea to move a McDonald’s 150 feet at a cost of $6,000,000 to taxpayers. $6-million to move a burger stand 150 feet! Fortunately, the RDA gave into public pressure and the project was shot down.
Some council candidates like to point at Downtown Fullerton as a shining example of the great work Redevelopment does. Indeed it is. Had we not “revitalized” our downtown, we would have fewer calls for police and fire to respond to drunk and disorderly conduct.
Please take a minute to think about the untold damage done by our own City Hall under the direction of our City Council, often acting as the Redevelopment Agency.
It is disingenuous for the RDA to take up this item 28 days before an election.
Hopefully, people will make enough noise about this by reminding the Council that future councilmembers should not be left with a decision of the current council.
Why is Pam Keller voting on this? After all, she is leaving and we are looking at two or three NEW faces on the council.
Can this proposal FAST!
I don’t always agree with the main contributors to FFFF, but you raise some good points. Anonymous wrapped it up well. I’m for redevelopment, however, we do have a new council coming in and there are enough specific projects that were not well thought out by the RDA. It’s time for Pam to retire, as well.
“I’m for redevelopment,”
Search our files for “redevelopment” read the excellent posts and tell me you’re still for Redevelopment.
I was hoping the city would use this money to fix my nephews new grocery store.
“Because, as the OC Register reported in July, the Fullerton Redevelopment Agency spent $22,700,000 to evict 600 low-income residents, bulldoze their homes to make room for a few low-income condos.”
Correction: “bulldoze their homes to make room for a few MODERATE-income condos.”
I stand corrected.
like the pharoahs obsessed with their mortality, the soon to be ex-city councilmembers hope to construct their own pyramids by erecting useless monuments and forcing the tax payers to slave away for it. what is it? tearing down existing structures to replace them with equal or inferior designs and calling this mess redevelopment. I miss what fullerton’s downtown may have looked like if it had not been revitalized to resemble the burbs’ vision of any downtown.
Admin, I can’t disagree that Fullerton’s RDA has made some mighty big expensive bloopers. I attribute some of that to the RDA being run Council. There are too many bad examples of redevelopment in this city. Some cities manage it better than others. But I have seen some good come from it where blighted areas are indeed improved. Fullerton is not a good example. I also don’t believe our local citizens should be taxed to pay for it. So we’re not far apart on this issue. Unlike some others, I do like our downtown Fullerton area. It is a destination as I know folks from Irvine who travel up this way just for the downtown atmosphere and variety of establishments. BTW, how did the vote go last night?
Let’s all hope they can pay off those bonds, because if the Redevelopment Agency can’t the city of Fullerton is on the hook for $ 29 million.
More like $45 million!
Did the bond measure pass? Will it be too late for the new council to vote it down?
A new council can indeed stop it. But they won’t.
It passed unanimously. There’s your unknown government that can pass a bond measure for tens of millions of dollars without it ever having to go before the people. It wasn’t even agendzed as a public hearing, although some residents were allowed to speak.
If you elect the RINOs, yiu get what you ask for…
Wow, very disturbing that it went down that way. I thought bond measures had to have voter approval….I guess not in all cases. I’m dumbfounded and need to get more involved. But if you guys couldn’t stop it, then who?
Chris Thompson and Janny Catlin Meyer candidates for School Board did not get endorsement from UNION CSEA and Beverly Berryman and AAruni Thakur are are supported by the Uniion….
Huh?