Welcome to Connecting the Dots! - The new Vallejo Community Issues Examiner series that searches horizontally for the best resources to deepen your understanding of local issues and events that affect you.
Innovator Steve Jobs once said that the only way you can 'connect the dots' is by looking backwards. We beg to differ.
We believe that it is possible to grasp and develop a perspective about the importance of changes happening around us, as we experience them. But we must be willing to be open to new ideas and experiences, even when they clash with our long-held beliefs and opinions.
Not a laughing matter...
Mark Twain gave generations of readers a hearty laugh with his remark that 'reports of his death were greatly exaggerated.' No one's laughing at the recent California State Supreme Court ruling that supports the law eliminating redevelopment agencies. It makes the Feb 1st death of California redevelopment agencies a reality and many sources predict that its negative ripple effects may not be totally appreciated for years to come.
The Vallejo City Council met in closed chambers on Jan 31 to further discuss the ramifications of the state law passed in the California legislature in 2011. Earlier this year city Finance Director Deborah Lauchner told the Times-Herald that "We won't get the same revenue stream that we got as a redevelopment agency." She went on to explain that much of that lost revenue comes from debt repayments that the Agency was making to the city at the tune of about $350K a year.
In nearby Hercules City Manager Steve Duran announced on Jan 31 that a bond insurer, Ambac Financial Group Inc, is suing Hercules because the city's redevelopment agency will not make a $2.4 million bond interest payment due February 1st.
Close to home..
For Vallejo councilmember Marti Brown, the effect will be very personal. Brown's day job is with the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency and expects to get a pink slip soon. She is concerned that in the rush to find ways to shore up state and city obligations the state legislature may have underestimated the potential negative ripple effects.
"The devil is always in the details." she says. "Should the major bond agencies downgrade California's ratings, these actions could really affect our credibility. It's really no different than how a consumer's credit is affected when his credit card is dinged for defaults and late payments." In fact that exactly how Moody's Investors Service acted earlier this year when, reacting to uncertainties about the redevelopment agencies phase-out, downgraded $11.6 billion of tax allocation bonds.
There's also the important task of ensuring that other city agencies can absorb the work formerly done by the redevelopment agencies, Brown says. "Brownfield cleanup and remediation is work traditionally done by these agencies. What other agencies will be ready, able and willing to take up the slack?"
Connecting the Dots
To get a sense of how different California cities and counties may feel the effects of this law, we've included reports from other Examiners across the state.
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