Last night at the monthly Residents for Responsible Representation meeting in La Sierra, two of Riverside’s council members, Paul Davis of Ward 4 and Nancy Hart of Ward 6, gave updates on their respective Wards. The contrast between the two messages was striking. Hart rose first to address the packed conference room at the Magnolia Police Station with a bitter message:
“Those of you who don’t like redevelopment will see what happens without it. All the things that you want in La Sierra aren’t going to happen now. We don’t have the funds and that’s just the way it is. We’ll just have to muddle through.”
Yikes.
The councilwoman continued:
“Do you think that people are just going to donate their own money to build and improve these things? Can you imagine the Riverside Renaissance getting done without redevelopment money?” (Why yes, yes I can.)
Clearly, weaning the councilwoman off the RDA after her decade or so of suckling on its teat is putting her in some distress. In stark contrast to Hart’s politic noir, Councilman Davis had a more positive message. Though he clearly has a soft spot for the RDA, Davis hasn’t abandoned the solid food of free enterprise. He stated that the streets of Casa Blanca (one of the city’s roughest neighborhoods) are now the best paved in all of Riverside. These streets were paved with general fund money, not RDA money (which is, in part, money taken from the general fund) Davis glowed as he presented the Gless Ranch Market Center project, just south of Casa Blanca, which will house a Lowes, a Target, possibly a Stater Bros., and a couple financial institutions. This project is being developed by the owner without any city or RDA (if it still existed) funds. Why? Two reasons jump to mind. First, because the development is not within an RDA project area, so RDA funding was not available to it. Second, because the landowner wanted to build and had the resources to build, so he is building. Believe it or not, this is exactly how America became the greatest economy in the world, by initiative and hard work, not developer welfare.
Davis mentioned another project--on Mary and Victoria--the Stater Bros. market. The store is to be leveled and rebuilt with an expected completion date of December 2012. Once again this project is being completed with private funding and no city involvement other than its customary red tape, flaming hoops, and shin cracking hurdles.
Hart grimaced throughout Davis’s presentation.
Before we pat the councilman on the head and send him off with an “A” on his presentation, there is something he said that bothered me. Concerning the latter project, he talked about the arrangement of the new store so that there would not be loading docks next to residences, the removal of a halfway house adjacent to the property (So, where are they now? is the obvious question) plus a couple more minor tweaks, then punctuated his remarks thusly:
“Community impact means the community must be involved. A project will not get my support unless the developer agrees to the community improvements I want”
The crowd greeted this comment with effusive praise, which I’m sure it was crafted to receive, but I caution Councilman Davis that with Riverside’s economy suffering, and an unemployment rate overtaking 15%, he should be careful about putting too many demands on job creators in this city. Your job, councilman, is to facilitate private industry, not to pick winners and losers based on your personal views.
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