As reported here last week, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is considering redirecting redevelopment funds–from city governments across the state into local school districts. Sacramento columnist Dan Walters says it’s a good move—supporting schools and taking pressure off the state at a time when its budget is headed toward its annual disaster.

“Predictably, local redevelopment agencies are howling about what they see as an arbitrary raid on their funds,” Walters wrote this morning in the Sacramento Bee. “On closer examination, however, Schwarzenegger’s property tax shift makes a lot of sense.”

“Anything that would shift local resources out of this community is something that neither the agency nor the city would support,” Redevelopment Agency director Craig Beck told the District last week.

Through a complex formula, Redevelopment Agencies in California cities are allowed to pocket property tax revenue that would go otherwise to public schools and county programs. The governor is looking for some $228 million from local redevelopment agencies.

That’ll cramp their buying power. The Long Beach RDA has used its so-called tax increment to buy and raze countless historic buildings, including the Jergins Trust. In April, the RDA paid $2.8 million for Acres of Books. The 74-year-old bookstore is likely to close for good within the next few months.

Tags: acres of books, California budget, Craig Beck, dan walters, jergins trust, Long Beach, redevelopment

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Shady McGross 3 months ago 1 point
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Hey Bertrand Smith,

Thanks for the free Gutenberg Bible and shit, sucka. We keep it gangsta.

We Out,

Long Beach RDA

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Andy 3 months ago 1 point
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Nice. Now that the RDA has created all those empty lots, they shall stay empty lots.

Unless, of course, developers are willing to build without huge subsidies from the city.

HA HA HA HA HA...just kidding

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LB City Girl 2 months ago 1 point
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Don't forget about the empty storefronts...we have LOTS of those too!

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Andy 2 months ago 1 point
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From the P-T on Z-Gallerie closing:

"He (Zeiden, owner of Z-Gallerie) said the focus on the Pike at Rainbow Harbor in recent years only added to Pine's decline and led to the loss of retailers.

"That was the nail in the coffin," said Zeiden, who saw sales "drop immensely" at his location. "Basically, that killed Pine Avenue. There's no reason for people to go there."

RDA's Craig Beck was "disappointed" but not enough to return Zeiden's calls. Another empty storefront. How incompetent and wasteful does an organization have to be, before the folks behind it are run out of town?

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