In order to save money, Governor Brown has proposed the elimination of redevelopment agencies across California, a move which could put a number of major San Francisco projects at risk.
Brown said his proposal would affect future redevelopment projects, not existing bonds or deals. That is cold comfort to redevelopment officials. They said that major projects are often funded in phases, so while they might be able to continue with current work, future plans could die on the vine.
Consider San Francisco’s Hunters Point Shipyard project, which includes 10,500 homes, 3.6 million square feet of commercial space and an artists’ colony in its second phase.
“If we don’t issue debt in the future, that deal is essentially dead,” said Fred Blackwell, the head of San Francisco’s Redevelopment Agency, which has a budget of about $93 million it plans to spend this year for projects.
To replace some redevelopment funding, Brown said he wants to allow cities to raise taxes with the approval of 55 percent of voters, rather than two-thirds currently.
Other major San Francisco redevelopment projects at risk of being derailed according to the Business Times: Hope SF and San Francisco’s Transbay Transit Center.
∙ Hunters Point Redevelopment Plan For 10,500 New Units Approved! [SocketSite]
∙ The Grand Plan And Aesthetics For Candlestick/Hunters Point [SocketSite]
∙ Budget ax swings at Hunters Point [Business Times]
∙ JustQuotes: Additional Details (Like Dollars) On Keeping Hope SF Alive [SocketSite]
Good news, taxpayers’ money might stop going into these Soviet-style developments.
Great communities, great architecture, were built without government support or even zoning: Edgartown, Mass; Old Town Alexandria, VA; much of pre-war London, Paris, Amsterdam, older parts of San Francisco.
Nasty, squalid, soul-destroying housing comes by design of government bureaucracy: post-war eastern Europe, Mitterand Paris, all of San Francisco’s housing projects.
Some good news already from Brown’s plan:
“Hundreds of City of Oakland employees, in nearly every department, will receive layoff notices next week as the city embarks on severe cost-cutting measures to make up for the loss of nearly $30 million in redevelopment funds, city staff said Thursday.”
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/12/BASM1MOL5B.DTL#ixzz1jHj7QIpF
Only “hundreds”?? This should read “thousands”!
That is correct that thousands will receive notice, but many fewer will be laid off. Most of the workforce will receive pink slips. But the action of the City is a holding action until a revised budget is passed at the end of January to account for the multi-million dollar hit to the City budget. Approximately 160 full-time equivalent employees are funded with redevelopment funds in Oakland, and the final layoffs will be of that order of magnitude.