Villaraigosa screws Jerry Brown: Los Angeles redevelopment honchos had '48 hours of panic' while devising poison pill to shelter $1 billion.

Mark Katersky

Regarding politics, one person said the Redevelopment is about Democrats giving away taxpayer funds to make Republican developers rich.

Here are some articles from our Progressive friends in San Francisco on BeyondChron:

Bayview Redevelopment Allows Public Funding of 49ers Stadium: http://www.beyondchron.org/new...

How Redevelopment Agencies Subvert Democracy: http://www.beyondchron.org/new...

Don't be Fooled

You people have NO IDEA where Jerry Brown is going to put this money. Let's not forget he has been Governor for 8 years already and no one slings it as good as him. CRA has made many poor areas into places that created jobs and were safe to walk in. Stop the big scare and tell Jerry and the Sacramento Politicians to stop stealing from local government.

Conny

Are you freakin' kiddin' me? - It's the RDA's who steal from the local communities, and now there is finally someone in Sacramento who has figured it out! So, when all of a sudden ALL RDA's try to hide their illegally acquired assets people like you come out of the woods to protect them? Makes me wonder if you are either on their payroll or perhaps a developer worried about not receiving your payment in whatever deal you've struck.

Conny

Msquared310

Kaye you are a has-been journalist and a stooge and so is Bob Blue who got paid hansomely for that little store front full of old samsonite luggage that never sold. I'm not sure crala did the best thing but it was the only thing that might keep local funds local. Redevelopment is much more than funding big developers. Why don't you talk to the non-profit developers who will not go out of business because CRALA was providing funds so that they could actually fund very low income housing. Get this through your head... and that of LADWP public employee Bob Blue. It is actually true in the case of affordable housing that it takes a villiage. Sometimes it means getting 80 affordable units at 1601 Vine street from Legacy Development who paid Bob Blue untold sums of money to build around his (outdated) luggage shop. Sometimes it takes CRALA direct money to fund small non-profit developers who courageously rehabed 20 totally affordable very low income units south of downtown LA (Central Avenue Villas) or 50 plus units in South LA (Westminster Apartments). Kaye your zeal to get a story (any story) and LADWP's Blue's out and out hate for CRA (the hand the fed him) perverts Jerry Brown's short sightedness. By the way, I heard that Sarah Palin endorsed Brown's Tea Party-esq proposal to eliminate redevelopment and also that you are on the payroll of those central valley conservative activist who funded the dimise of Grey Davis and brought us the Arnaldnator. If you ARE a journalist, do some _______ research.

Conny

Oh boy! Someone's on payroll for the agency, hm? You seem to be talking a lot about the "facts" that the agency is feeding you ... and you swallow them whole!

1) 1601 vine street is not a Legacy Development ... but it's been in the news neverthelessJust ask Mr. Katersky and Mr. Garcetti, they'll fill you in, honey.

2) You might want to check with your secretary before you send out any more nonsense like the above, 'cause good secretaries will check on the facts before they let their boss embarrass itself

3) I am sure that Mr. Kaye and Mr. Blue appreciate the fact that you're takin' so much time to ridicule their work, especially since they are right on and you know it.

4) do I really need to go on?

Best,Conny

Joey B.

THANK YOU, Ms. Stewart! - this article has really said it all!

and to JohnBoy I'd like to say this: the "very neighborhoods blighted by poverty" are created by the CRA/LA and their crony friends in development. / it's called: Self-imposed blight, which will lead to reverse condemnation.

are you trying to tell the people that is okay to take out small businesses for pennies on the dollar and then hand them over to the developers, just so that the properties can be ignored for a number of years in order to create blight and then condemn more properties in that area?

this makes me wonder who is paying your salary? the mayor? the CRA/LA? the developers?

thank you again, Ms. Stewart for reporting on this and also a big thank you to Mr. Blue who has kept an eye on this from the beginning.

Joey B.

JohnBoy

CRA/LA does not ignore the neighborhoods in question. The slumlords who prey on the poor do. CRA involvement has resulted in the rescue of many business and property owners who are victims of this apathetic ownership in their neighborhoods. I detest the Mayor of L.A., but even a stopped clock is right twice a day. I do not work for any of the groups of which you accuse me. The question could be asked of you as to whether or not you are dating Ms. Stewart or Mr. Blue, or if ideological blindness is responsible for your ignorance to improvements that have taken place in formerly rotting communities in the once grand Los Angeles.

Msquared310

Joey.. all I have to say is that those businesses that got bought out made Bamk. Ask LA Dept of water and power employee (or maybe former by now) Bob Blue. When his busienss got bought out he made mint.

Mikijackson

He who screws last, screws best. The quick Brown fox out maneuvered the slow witted City Hall Clowns and cut the deal to kill the CRA while simultaneously cutting the floor of power out from under would be ringmaster Antonio. While the CRA and the City Hall of fools were trying to get their ragged ducks in a row to pull off their billion dollar CRA steal, Brown was over at County sawing them off at the knees. read the delicious details: http://www.facebook.com/note.p...¬e_id=10150100067171949#!/home.php?sk=mynotes

JohnBoy

"...Subsidizing wealthy developers???"

Why is Ms. Stewart overlooking Gov. Brown's attempt to subsidize California's overextended budget at the expense of local governments? That is not solving the budget problem. That is temporarily shifting the problem to local governments with the alibi that it will be "...Shoring up poverty aid and indigent health care."

This bank robbery will do nothing of the sort. It is a Government Finance 101 attempt to balance State books on the backs of cities and counties. And it will fail in that regard as well, but it makes for good political talking points for the Governor who can categorize redevelopment money as wasteful, even though it is sorely needed to fight the very neighborhoods blighted by poverty that Ms. Stewart, friend of the poor and indigent, purports to support. Another misguided ideologue, she cannot see the forest for the trees.

James McCuen

There is no free lunch, all property valuation increases (the tax increment) within a project area are taken away and given to the Redevelopment agencies who leverage the funds by issuing debt without voter approval. An honest evaluation of the big chunk of funds is done for high end projects such the Hollywood Highland complex.

The real impact on funds used for basic local County and City Services are impacted by this and Redevelopment, as Controller John Chiang will find out was spent in a very ineffective and financial inefficient way.

You only have to look at the most recent meeting (as of the date of this article), March 3, 2011 CRA/LA meeting - $100,000 for a website that promotes downtown LA, a few million to "study" a downtown trolley car.

Msquared

James with all due respect... were you here in LA in the 1970's and 80's before CRA focused on Hollywood. Do you remember when Everybody called it "Hollywierd"???? Did you like the deteriorating buildings that used to occupy the space where Hollywood and Highland now act as resident host of the Oscars. Do you even think about how much revenue from tourist natonwide as well as Asia and Eurpoe has now returned to Hollywood that this city would not have had if not for the projects like Hollywood and Highland that the CRA has facilitated. Get your facts straight. Don't buy these overly simplistic sound bites that Kaye and others are putting out there. And get this... Gov. Moonbeam is alive and well. At a time when Texas and other states are copying California's form of redevelopment, Jerry Brown says that the only effective economic engine that creates jobs and affordable housing (have you checkd housing prices in LA lately), should fund the bloated state budget? You will better comprehend this in a few years when you hear that without redevelopment, slums will return to LA and the entire state of California.

James Mccuen

In terms of your political discussion, you are all over the map, like Redevelopment which has been described as Democrats helping Republican developers get rich off of government funds.

To start off, you are wrong about affordable housing. If that’s your only argument, Gov. Brown has already addressed that issue with a compromise with the Counties.

As you know, the CRA/LA brags about how many jobs and economic benefits its projects create (the proforma estimates), but there is never any follow up or true independent audit of the financial performance of Redevelopment Agencies Statewide until Gov. Brown lifted the blanket off of the CRA with his audacious proposal.

State Controller John Chiang is now conducting an independent performance audit of 18 Redevelopment Agencies. The nice thing about accountants, they may be boring, but numbers don't lie.

Since you brought up Hollywood, let's talk about the CRA's pride and joy: the Hollywood and Highland Complex which includes the Kodak Theater, home of the Oscars.

Cost to Build: $650 million.City Investment: $100 million Completed: 2001, Trizec Hahn.2002: TrizecHahn Reduces Value of Hollywood & Highland ProjectCalifornia - Real estate: Firm's $217-million write-down on complex is one of the largest in memory. http://articles.latimes.com/20...2004: Sold to CIM Group for $201 million

Even with the bargain basement price, CIM Group still asked for a $30 million loan guarantee through a HUD Section 108 grant guaranteed by the taxpayers

The Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program is a source of financing alotted for the economic development, housing rehabilitation, public facilities rehab, construction or installation for the benefit of low- to moderate-income persons, or to aid in the prevention of slums.

The Kodak theater is hardly a slum or benefiting low to moderate income persons.

And then in downtown, the CRA and City of LA approves $52 million for a City-owned parking lot for Billionaire Eli Broad’s at the very same time that the Mayor was trying to sell of City-owned parking lots under his “P3” proposal. I would call that schizophrenic.

Ironically, Redevelopment the wasteful spending of redevelopment is amplified by the borrowing.

I think that we have all had enough corporate bailouts by two Presidents (Bush and Obama) of the financial industry. Enough trickle-down economics! Enough with the debt creation and borrowing Mr. Brown, tear down Redevelopment!

James McCuen

Yes, I was in Hollywood since the 50s, I know the area well.

Your statement actually proves that Redevelopment is a failure by implying that it must go on in perpetuity.

If you know anything about Redevelopment, which was created 66 years ago, it is supposed to clear out blight and then expire. Typically after 12 years and even then, it is required to repay the debt which is created by borrowing without voter approval. But your are actually on point. Just look at the Bunker Hill project which has been in existence since 1959.

Also, to give you an update, you are wrong about affordable housing. If that’s your only argument, Gov. Brown has already addressed that issue with a compromise with the Counties.

State Controller John Chiang is now conducting an independent performance audit of 18 Redevelopment Agencies. The nice thing about accountants, they may be boring, but numbers don't lie.

Since you brought up Hollywood, let's talk about the CRA's pride and joy: the Hollywood and Highland Complex which includes the Kodak Theater, home of the Oscars.

Even with the bargain basement price, CIM Group still asked for a $30 million loan guarantee through a HUD Section 108 grant guaranteed by the taxpayers

The Kodak theater is hardly a slum or benefiting low to moderate income persons.

And then the CRA and City of LA approves $52 million for a City-owned parking lot for Billionaire Eli Broad’s at the very same time that the Mayor was trying to sell of City-owned parking lots under his “P3” proposal.

Ironically, Redevelopment the wasteful spending of redevelopment is amplified by the borrowing. As you probably know, the CRA/LA has a horrible track record managing its loans.