(October 15, 2004) -- Setting the stage for what could become a major change in decision making on Redevelopment in Long Beach -- including who controls public money and property uses affecting nearly half the city -- Vice Mayor Jackie Kell and Councilmembers Dan Baker and Tonia Reyes Uranga have agendized an item for the October 19 City Council meeting that proposes to schedule a hearing to consider an ordinance declaring the City Council to be the governing board of LB's Redevelopment Agency.

"As elected representatives, Councilmembers must answer directly to the residents of the areas affected by redevelopment projects and can be held accountable by residents for their policy decisions. Appointed Boards are removed from direct accountability from area residents. Members of the public have been calling for increased accountability for the Redevelopment Agency and replacing the appointed Agency Board with elected officials would accomplish this goal," the trio's agendizing memo states.

LBReport.com posts the text of the memo in full, below.

For years, LB's non-elected (Mayor nominated, Council approved) Redevelopment Agency Board has wielded major powers, including eminent domain, in areas it decreed to be blighted. Such decisions created taxpayer impacts even outside Redevelopment areas...since once an area is part of a Redevelopment project area, property value increases (which produce increased property taxes) are diverted from their usual course and instead cover debt incurred by the Redevelopment Agency to fund new development.

LB's Redevelopment Agency board has put nearly half of Long Beach (including much of downtown) into various Redevelopment project areas. Whether this has helped eliminate blight, or worsened matters, is being increasingly debated. Critics of Redevelopment call it corporate welfare for wealthy developers; supporters call it a tool to replace blight with renewal.

The text of the Kell-Baker-Uranga memo follows:

Redevelopment in LB has become the focus of increasing attention. UC Irvine awarded former LB activist Colette McLaughlin a Ph.D. for a dissertation critical of Redevelopment as applied in LB. Former Fullerton activist, now a member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, Chris Norby, authored a 1998 book (Redevelopment: The Unknown Government), criticizing CA's Redevelopment laws as unfair and unwise. LB writer Bry Myown has publicly questioned whether Redevelopment in CA can be shown to have produced genuine success.

The issue began reaching critical mass locally when several issues converged. Some at City Hall indicated a willingness to merge LB's currently separate Redevelopment project areas. Activists in some of the Redevelopment areas viewed this as a device to raid their area's money and divert it elsewhere.

Former 6th district resident Lewis Lester formed a fiery committee to oppose any Redevelopment merger and ran against incumbent Councilwoman Laura Richardson. Despite several candidates in the race, Richardson won reelection without a runoff.

In the 8th district, grassroots activist Rae Gabelich was elected after opposing the merger of Redevelopment project areas.

In the 4th district, former LB activist Traci Wilson-Kleekamp (who didn't seek office) noted that some 4th district areas had quietly been listed in a Redevelopment Agency document among a number of areas for potential future consideration for possible inclusion in Redevelopment. Then-incumbent Councilman Dennis Carroll said this needlessly alarmed his constituents since no such decision had been made or was pending...and took steps to prevent potential inclusion of any 4th district areas in Redevelopment.

Mayor O'Neill created a major controversy when she tried to block appointees to the Redevelopment Agency governing board who had been nominated by grassroots Redevelopment project area committees. The Mayor said she was seeking greater diversity on the RDA board, but many speculated that the Mayor was trying to pack the Board with a majority that would support a merger. The Mayor's action led to an extraordinarily acrimonious Council meeting...in which a Council majority ultimately voted against the Mayor.

Meanwhile, city management sought (and received) permission from the Redevelopment Agency Board to spend money that had been accumulated to remove blight in NLB instead to fund a General Fund capital project (a North Division police station in Scherer Park). NLB's Redevelopment Project Area Committee reluctantly backed the move...but there was lasting damage, including fears that City Hall is now motivated to raid Redevelopment anti-blight money to fund other projects.

With Redevelopment in LB under fire on multiple fronts, LB's Redevelopment Agency Board agreed to fund an "independent study" of Redevelopment in LB...but angered some activists by balking at the inclusion of a forensic or other formal audit of Redevelopment projects.

Against this backdrop, as reported by LBReport.com in August 2004, City Manager Jerry Miller publicly urged the City Council to consider making itself the governing board of LB's Redevelopment Agency.

City Manager Miller's memo, referenced with approval in the Kell-Baker-Reyes Uranga agendizing memo, was posted in full by LBReport.com in August. To view our coverage, click here.

Although the October 19 Council action won't decide whether the Council will become LB's Redevelopment Agency governing board, a vote to set a hearing on the issue would presumably indicate if a Council majority favors going forward with such a move.