Lots of cash and little scrutiny in city redevelopment

Los Angeles Times ^ | October 1, 2010 | By Kim Christensen and Jessica Garrison

[granite]

The old All Star Dodge dealership in Banning looked to be just another ghost of business past in a town hit hard by a sour economy.

But that didn't keep the city's redevelopment agency from paying top dollar for it — and then some. Without an independent appraisal, agency board members, who double as the City Council, shelled out $1.2 million for the vacant property in July 2009.

It still sits empty.

"Everything about that deal stinks," said Philipp Goebels, editor of The Banning Informer website, which devotes much of its attention to the city's "redevelopment disasters."

A Riverside County civil grand jury cited the deal in a February report that also faulted the agency for paying for facelifts for vacant businesses while neglecting blighted neighborhoods, and giving $162,000 to a nonprofit "cultural alliance," co-founded by Mayor Bob Botts, for services it never delivered.

Botts called the grand jurors' findings "their opinion" and defended the All Star Dodge deal.

"We weren't just buying property," he said. "We were working on a project that would be good for redevelopment, that would be good for the city. We had some very, very specific reasons for doing it."

But he would not say what they were, and by law he didn't have to. Because redevelopment agencies act in an entrepreneurial role, they have the leeway to conduct much of their business privately.

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City agencies meant to improve blighted areas are rife with problems that cost the public millions.

[count-your-change]

It’s good to be king (or friends of the king).

[ridesthemiles]

Banning:

BELL of the desert ?????