Villaraigosa Wants Replacement To Fill CRA Void

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants state legislators to give cities new economic development tools to replace community redevelopment agencies, an aide to the mayor said today.

The California Supreme Court in late December upheld a state law that eliminated the agencies. The ruling was a major blow to cities, which sued earlier this year to block the law.

Redevelopment agencies are funded by the increase in tax revenue generated by projects in their areas. The agencies use the revenue to invest in additional projects mainly in blighted parts of cities.

The CRA has been instrumental in developing the NoHo Arts District over the last 20 years. There are also a number of CRA-backed projects currently underway, which will be allowed to finish. The CRA-North Hollywood Project Manager,  Gazala Pirzada, recently spoke at the Midtown NoHo Neighborhood Council and gave an outline on the status of projects that would be affected by the possible elimination of the CRA. .

The redevelopment agencies not only fund major building projects such as parking for a proposed art museum, apartments and parks in downtown Los Angeles, but they also spend 20 percent of their income on affordable housing.

Democratic legislators in Sacramento and Gov. Jerry Brown would rather use the tax dollars to help fill a state budget deficit that Brown said Thursday is more than $9 billion.

Villaraigosa held a conference call this morning with the mayors of the nine other biggest cities in the state to discuss the issue. Villaraigosa also plans to meet with legislators in Sacramento on Monday to discuss options.

Deputy Mayor for Communication Sarah Sheahan declined to say what the mayors discussed on the call and said it is too early to say what Villaraigosa would like to see in the way of a replacement for redevelopment agencies.

"He wants a legislative solution that gives cities tools to create their own economic development programs and to protect cities from liabilities that would devastate local budgets," Sheahan said.

The mayor also wants to see Los Angeles residents on an oversight board responsible for winding down the city's  Community Redevelopment Agency, Sheahan said.

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-San Fernando Valley, is working on a bill that would postpone the termination date for redevelopment agencies from February to the end of May. It would also move all payments from the agencies to the state on to one day, June 1. The bill would give legislators some time to craft new ways for cities to incentivize developers to build low income housing and other developments in rundown neighborhoods. The bill is epxected to be introduced next week.

The California Redevelopment Association and League of California Cities called on lawmakers "immediately" to develop legislation to revive the agencies.

"Without immediate legislative action to fix this adverse decision, this ruling is a tremendous blow to local job creation and economic advancement," association board president Julio Fuentes said last week.