Being in a "Redevelopment Area" none of the property is then actually fully owned by the person holding the title. Once a property as the entire town of Grand Terrace was declared blighted it is never off the roles of property available for confiscation and re-use as the Redevelopment Agency might desire at any time.
Yes the Citizens demanded some rights for homes or residenticial zoned property. But, this is a flawed protection as the City Council can at any time change the zoning of your property to fit its desires to feed your property to the Redevelopment Agency.
Ok so the City gets more of the taxes this way. While the City is getting more of your tax dollars who is being short changed. Well, the answer is Your Child School, the Fire Departments, and other agencies that have their budgets frozen to the Prop 13 level base line.
There is another real problem that I don't think the population is yet to comprehend. The chearing of the ever increasing property values, or the increased amount of debt due to housing should be viewed as a unsustainable economic situation that can only cause tramadic hardship, massive homelessness, poverty. When the average home price is a half a million bucks and people cheer we should have all been saying NO that is too high.
Why is it we are happy when the price of gas goes down, the price of food is on sale, the price of a car is lowered? It means we are producing product or some one is in excess of demand, and prices fall. The technology of building a house has not changed much, yet the prices don't fall. Yet look at all that goes into building a computer and its price.
The City of Grand Terrace RDA does not produce sufficient product to generate sufficient jobs, income taxes, sales taxes and like others has been gambling on the property to be ever increasing in value. Not only city property but YOUR Property. Then they take loans on that hope, and insure the loan, and spend the money, and if it all goes bad, an insurance company will pay for the folly.
But, when the City of Grand Terrace RDA gets its bail out, and the economy crumbles around all its citizens, where will the new homeless and poor go in Grand Terrace?
It is time the Citizens of Grand Terrace really look into their being to ask the question is this way of financing the city sustainable for the community and the families in Grand Terrace. At what price does it come to each of us? Is it really how we think our government should be financed?
