What is Redevelopment?

It sounds like a good thing and it can be, but not when it is done with the powers of a Redevelopment Agency.  Normal redevelopment takes existing properties and either enhances them or tears down the existing buildings to put something else in its place.  In the usual course of things, a property owner willingly sells his or her property to a developer, who then removes the existing buildings and builds other kinds of buildings, such as condos, townhouses, shopping malls, movie theatres or "big box" stores like Wal-Mart.

A Redevelopment Agency is another layer of government that is established by city or county government in accordance with state law to force redevelopment to move at a faster pace so that local governments can boost their tax revenue. The Redevelopment Agency's actions are not subject to a vote of the citizens.  The Redevelopment Agency can incur debt without our approval.  After declaring a neighborhood "blighted", the Redevelopment Agency can use eminent domain to force property owners, both homes and businesses, to sell their properties for "fair market value", whether or not these property owners want to sell. Then the Redevelopment Agency sells the property to developers, often providing "subsidies" to developers to encourage them, using the city's tax dollars.

The City of Gardena wishes to establish a Redevelopment Agency because they are in debt and see this as a way to bring in more tax dollars by displacing low tax-revenue generators (us!) with high-tax revenue generators.  In doing so, they plan to force people out of their homes and businesses without any care or concern for where these people will live or whether they can re-establish their businesses somewhere else.

Here is a map in pdf format of the areas in Gardena that are in the proposed "Redevelopment Project Study Area". If your home or business is not in the dark areas, don't feel safe.  Once a Redevelopment Agency is established, it can be expanded to all areas of the city.

The following articles have much more information in depth about Redevelopment Agencies, how they work and their abuses of power.  We encourage you to read them all and become informed:

Redevelopment: The Unknown Government by Chris Norby
What it is and how it works

Public Power, Private Gain (California Section) (pdf format) by Dana Berliner
A report of redevelopment abuses in various cities in California

Subsidizing Redevelopment in California
How Redevelopment Agencies are funded and the incentive to designate areas as "blighted"

California Cities and the Local Sales Tax
Sales taxes encourage cities to develop more retail properties over residential or other types of properties

Do we have a right to our property--or not? September 19,2004
A thought-provoking column by George Will on a recent eminent domain ruling in Connecticut

Time to Repeal Redevelopment
An Article by Doug Kaplan in pdf format

Eminent Domain Watch
A Blog of Eminent Domain in the News by Alan Krigman

Landmark Eminent Domain Abuse Decision - Michigan Supreme Court
The 1981 "Poletown" decision has been used in many courts in many states to justify the taking of private property for private gain via eminent domain. Now that it has been overturned, other states including California need to revise their laws on eminent domain.

Institute for Justice
Lots of articles including eminent domain abuse. The U.S. Supreme Court is now deciding whether to hear a case of eminent domain being used against non-blighted homes!  This will have implications for every state.

Castle Coalition
Citizens fighting eminent domain abuse

Now that you've read the articles, it's time to take action!

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Copyright © 2004-2005 No Gardena Redevelopment Agency Boondoggle Committee
Last modified: 4/26/2005