Redevelopment: The Unknown Government

On September 30, Joe and I had the opportunity to attend the 11th Annual Northern California Conference on Redevelopment Abuse sponsored by Municipal Officials for Redevelopment Reform (MORR) and moderated by Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby, a vocal critic of redevelopment and eminent domain abuse. It was a day-long conference with speakers ranging from attorneys specializing in eminent domain cases and citizen activists to ordinary people who found themselves victims of eminent domain "takings" of their private property for commercial use. One of the speakers was John Revelli from Oakland whose 56-year old family business was declared blighted and taken by eminent domain for a city-subsidized real estate developer planning to put apartments and condominiums on it. Though his case appealing the eminent domain taking is still moving through the courts, the city of Oakland has already demolished his building and erected a new structure, something called "early taking." Basically, a redevelopment agency can declare your property blighted, claim it with eminent domain and while you're going to court to appeal it, they can physically take possession of the property and demolish your home or business and erect new buildings. There is no due process under the 4th and 5th Amendments when the government wants your property.

We hear about the Manteca Redevelopment Agency a lot. After all, the City Council members are in fact the Redevelopment Agency. At city council meetings, they simply announce that they are now the Redevelopment Agency with a bang of the gavel and open the meeting within a meeting when there's agency business to conduct. Did you know that the Redevelopment Agency has the power to declare any property "blighted" and that once an area is "blighted" that future increases in property taxes are diverted from that point forward to the local Redevelopment Agency? The property tax increases are siphoned off before they ever get to the city's general fund or the county's coffers or to the school district where property taxes are supposed to go. This is called "tax increment diversion." An interesting side effect of declaring property "blighted" is that once the property is so deemed, it remains "blighted" forever. There is no procedure in place to "un-blight" an area, meaning that the tax increment diversion on that property continues forever. Pretty sweet deal, huh?

The lure of declaring property "blighted" is so strong and the rewards (to the city) so great, that Joe recently found a document reporting how Manteca city employees direct consultants to actually drive around looking for any evidence of blight so that the Redevelopment Agency can expand its tax base (specifically see footnote 4 of the document). With the power of eminent domain behind it, the Redevelopment Agency can buy property that they have devalued through declarations of "blight" at a very attractive bargain price. If the stubborn property owner won't sell, they can use eminent domain to seize property for a "better use" (read "retail stores"). Cities like Manteca LOVE retail stores because they get a portion of the sales tax charged and if Measure M passes in November, they'll get even more.

Have you heard that the Redevelopment Agency funds that are spent on "improvements" around Manteca are not tax dollars so there's no need for anyone to be concerned? Any time someone in the government tells you that the money they're spending is not tax dollars, that should raise a red flag and you should be concerned. A lot. Did you know that the Redevelopment Agency has the power to issue bonds, which the taxpayers must repay, without ever putting it to a vote? That's a lot of power to wield and cities all over California and the country are doing just that. It's our tax dollars that fund the Redevelopment Agency, plain and simple. Any claim that redevelopment money isn't tax money is a lie.

MORR has published a booklet called "Redevelopment: The Unknown Government" which is available online. Anyone who is remotely interested in what local governments are doing with taxpayer money or in eminent domain should read this publication. It's written in plain language, you don't need a law degree to understand it. There's also a Spanish language version available. It has also has some great cartoons!