Redevelopment Agencies are run by cities. The RAs take between 12% and 30% of the area's property taxes. They are supposed to spend the money on upgrading poorer areas, building housing, theaters, arenas and other public use buildings.
The RAs have the authority to take your property, sell your former property to a developer, and give the developer monies to build something else on your former property. Often the developer chosen by the RA has given A LOT of money to the campaigns of those who run the city.
Did you know that the state has to replace the property taxes that the Redevelopment people take from the schools?
Did you know that there is almost NO oversight or controls over the Redevelopment Agencies?
Some of the RAs spend more money on advice from consultants than on actual redevelopment. Some of the RAs just do not bother to spend monies on housing as they are required to do.
Governor Brown wants to do away with the RAs. Personally, I think we could live without RAs for awhile. If we reinstitute RAs, then we need to give some state agency the authority to control the way RAs raise, and spend, the taxpayer's money. We also need to require that local protest of the RAs plans must be addressed prior to the plan being implemented.
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