Court suspends dismantling of redevelopment agencies

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 8/11/11 | Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writer

[SmithL]

California's plan to dismantle redevelopment agencies was put on hold today by the state Supreme Court, which plans to decide by January whether the state's elimination of the program is legal.

The court agreed to allow a lawsuit, which challenges the legality of the elimination of redevelopment, to move forward, and said the program can continue to exist while the case is pending.

It also set an expedited schedule, saying it plans to issue a final opinion by mid-January on whether the Legislature had the power to eliminate the economic development program. And while the decision allows redevelopment agencies to continue operating while the case is considered, the court barred the agencies from starting any new projects or purchasing or transferring any property.

If the case is successful, it will punch a $1.7 billion hole in the state's budget for the current fiscal year, and could put schools, social services and other programs at risk . . .

[rockvillem]

I sure hope there’s more to this story - a legislature may not have the authority to terminate something that they probably set up in the first place? Wow. It’s California, so nothing would surprise me that much I guess. They’re racing to spend themselves into the poorhouse and hoping that Obama and the Dems are able to ship money from the productive states.

[henkster]

We’ve had a similar problem in Indiana where the legislature passed a bill de-funding Planned Parenthood. They ran to the Courts to get an injunction against implementing the bill. And didn’t ACORN do something similar? These judicial actions, dictating fiscal policy to the legislature, are clearly unconstitutional.

The Rule of Law is indeed dead if it is no longer recognized by the very legal system that’s supposed to uphold it.

[skeeter]

Judges in this state are like wee tiny emperors- they do whatever the hell their twisted little hearts tell them.

[Digger]

We’ve had a similar problem in Indiana where the legislature passed a bill de-funding Planned Parenthood. They ran to the Courts to get an injunction against implementing the bill.

You can't win in this corrupt setup. Your vote really means little. Laws are not obeyed nothing happens. It's truly a joke that people feel we have a democracy of by & for the sheeple.

[CdMGuy]

I suspect you do not live in California and likely do not know the Redevelopment Agency (RDA) story. California has had RDAs at the city and county level for many years. Blighted areas were declared to be redevelopment areas, and future increases in property taxes due to redevelopment went into a city’s redevelopment fund to be used to further additional redevelopment.

While there has been abuse of these funds in some cities where RDA funds were transferred into general funds accounts, what the state wants to do is to get their hands on existing RDA funds. They are doing so by passing legislation requiring municipalities to pay multimillion dollar fees to the state for the “privilege” of operating their redevelopment agencies.

This is the kind of nonsense that has been going on in California for years. The state, because the legislature refuses to balance the budget, comes in and takes away funds that had been going to the cities. This year, they also are transferring state provided services to the counties. Prisoners, previously held in state prisons are being transferred to county jails. Parolees, previously monitored by state agents are being turned over to the counties to monitor. It is pure BS. So, in this case, many cities have filed suit against the state.

[Disambiguator]

The state may have tried to do the right thing, If I understand this correctly. The whole "redevelopment" thing is a big scam, and actually diverts property taxes from counties and cities to developers and bond agents, depriving government agencies of needed cash.

Watch this (it's long, but worth it), and read this and this.

The "unknown government" document is usually available at http://www.redevelopment.com, but the site was down.

[B4Ranch]

The Court has bought into Agenda 21 Program and isn’t about to allow it to slow down.

[tubebender]

Was the RDA setup by a vote of the citizens in a ballot measure?

[newzjunkey]

Looks like this is the "more to the story" part: "eliminated the redevelopment programs but allowed them to continue to exist if they agreed to pay $1.7 billion this year and $400 million in future years toward other public programs."

We'll end your program unless you agree to lauder those funds in order to subsidize other things.

[SaraJohnson]

The courts in California are way out of control. That is what happens when the political elite thumb their noses at the constitution. Washington has set the pace and sent the message that they can do whatever they want to do to Americans. You end up with the serious abuse of a dictatorship.

If we don’t somehow resurrect the constitution, we are in for serious hurt.