Gramps here is an article about Redevelopment it kind of relates to what is happening in GT, just shift county to city and change the names. Perhaps the point that no good comes from a Redevelopment Agency should be learned. In Grand Terrace, Redevelopment is fine if it is the assistance to the property owner, not the Developer, or Developer's Partner Driving out Property Owners or strong arm tactics of zone changes, codes, and Super Plans imposed upon property owners.
The parallels with us and having a project shoved down our throats.
S.B. County drops unpopular redevelopment plan
SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY:
Some residents in the targeted areas say it's a victory over a bad plan.
10:00 PM PST on Tuesday, January 30, 2007
By IMRAN GHORI ------ The Press-Enterprise
Two years after beginning efforts to create
redevelopment districts in Bloomington, Muscoy and Devore, San Bernardino County supervisors quietly ended the process Tuesday.
The Board of Supervisors formally pulled the plug on the two proposed redevelopment areas -- one for Bloomington and one for Devore and Muscoy -- and disbanded project area committees created in 2005.
In a staff report, Redevelopment Agency Director Kathy Thomas cited lack of support from the communities and changes in state redevelopment law as the reasons for discontinuing redevelopment, which officials had touted as a tool to counter blight and create economic development.
The plan was greeted skeptically.
In both proposed districts, most members elected to the committees charged with working with the county were opposed to the redevelopment.
Both committees sought a suspension of the redevelopment plans in November 2005 and had essentially been inactive since then.
Bob Page, Gonzales' chief of staff, said it was a mistake not to perform needs assessments before starting the process.
"We never really got a full community survey of what their needs were," he said.
Members of both committees said they were glad to see the process end.
Muscoy resident Linda Thacker, a committee member and leader of an unsuccessful recall drive against Gonzales, said the county went about it the wrong way.
"You don't shove things down people's throats," she said.
In Bloomington, where an incorporation drive is being pursued, residents said the time was wrong for redevelopment.
"The whole thing about redevelopment is who's in charge," said committee member Alexia King Rishel, of Bloomington. "My objection has always been the county should not be in charge of Bloomington because Bloomington wants to be its own city."
Reach Imran Ghori at 909-806-3061 or ighori@PE.com
