Governor's May Revise Still Targets Redevelopment;
Help Save Duarte's Redevelopment Agency
DUARTE, CA, May 25, 2011 – In Governor Brown's "May Revise" budget statement released May 16th, he continues to stick to his plan to eliminate Redevelopment agencies; a plan that would cause Duarte to lose approximately $1,000,000 per year from its operating budget resulting in dramatic cutbacks in City services.
In response to this continued attack, a broad coalition of local government, business, labor, community groups and other city supporters launched the "MyVoteCountsCa.org" website in March as part of a massive outreach campaign to engage voters to take immediate action and sign a petition to stop the State legislature from raiding local government redevelopment funds in violation of the state constitution.
Last year, in November 2010, Duarte voters helped pass Proposition 22 by an overwhelming majority. The measure stopped State raids of local redevelopment funds. Despite this clear voter mandate, legislators could vote on a budget this week that takes important local funds in blatant violation of Prop. 22. The “MyVoteCountsCA.org” campaign educates and engages voters to easily sign a petition with the click of their mouse that warns legislators not to ignore their recent amendment to the constitution in Prop. 22, and respect the rule of law in California. In addition to violating the will of voters who want redevelopment protected, eliminating redevelopment agencies is unconstitutional. The League of California Cities has acknowledged local officials will file a lawsuit to stop the proposal if it should be included as part of the State budget.
Redevelopment is strongly supported locally by business, labor, affordable housing, environmental, community groups and local officials. Redevelopment creates 304,000 new jobs a year, $40 billion in economic activity statewide and $2 billion in state and local tax revenue. At a time when California’s economic recovery is stagnating compared to the rest of the nation, eliminating redevelopment and its job-creating potential is counterproductive. Redevelopment has been a valuable economic development tool in Duarte for over 35 years. It has helped to positively transform Duarte by eliminating blight and spurring development growth. It has created hundreds of local jobs. It has helped make Duarte a better place to live and work.
The Redevelopment Agency initially formed in 1975. Since that time, the Redevelopment Agency has assisted in development projects such as: the Lewis Industrial Park and the associated removal of the blighted area once known as “Rock Town;” Mountain Vista Plaza (Target); the Wal-Mart and La-Z-Boy centers; auto dealerships along the 210 Freeway; Best-Buy; and many others.
Redevelopment has also been responsible for the development of the Rancho Duarte Golf Course; Duarte Town Center (including City Hall, community building and the fitness center); several local park improvements; and several residential projects that eliminated old dilapidated buildings and replaced them with new housing (for example the old Capri and Ohio Motels were removed to make way for Huntington Courts). Redevelopment funds helped to build the Duarte Performing Arts Center in partnership with the Duarte School District, a sure indication that redevelopment funds help in the enrichment of our youth.
All of these projects brought visual improvement to the community, but they also brought economic growth. The City of Duarte gets a portion of the sales tax generated from the retail businesses that have been brought to the City. Sales tax from Target, Wal-Mart, La-Z-Boy, Best Buy, Car Max, Nissan, Ford and other retail uses helps to fund local law enforcement, the many great recreation programs the City provides and much more.
Over the past two years, the State of California has taken over 3.2 million dollars of local Redevelopment money from the Duarte Redevelopment Agency. Recently, the Governor has proposed to eliminate redevelopment Statewide in an effort to balance the State budget. Basically, the plan is to redistribute local property tax dollars, taking these funds away from the community in which they were generated. At minimum, this will damage our ability to assist in valuable local development projects that help make our community thrive.
Hopefully, redevelopment will not end in Duarte because there is much still left to do. City Staff are working towards the development of a new building on the northwest corner of Huntington Drive and Buena Vista Avenue; the redevelopment of the Big Lots Center; a transit oriented development at the future Gold Line Station; an affordable senior housing project on the southeast corner of Pops Road and Huntington Drive; a family affordable housing project on the vacant property west of One West Bank and much more.
