What began as scattered decisions by city councils has turned into a full-fledged revolt across California, as redevelopment agencies scramble to get billions of dollars worth of projects approved. Gov. Brown wants to abolish the agencies in his new budget. The battle is joined.
From the LA Times' Jessica Garrison: "Over the last several days, officials in Long Beach,
Pasadena, Palm Springs and numerous other cities have
hastily called special meetings to discuss transferring
billions of dollars from their redevelopment agencies
to city control to keep the money out of the state's
reach."
The move is an attempted end-run around Brown's proposal to scrap redevelopment
and allow school districts, counties and the state
to take the billions in property tax dollars the agencies
now collect to improve blighted areas. Brown predicted
that the move would save the state $1.7 billion in the next fiscal year and send much more
money back to school districts and counties in years
to come. The redevelopment agencies take in about $5 billion each year."
Other tales of redevelopment frenzy: Riverside, Fremont, San Jose,
The Legislature, meanwhile, doesn't seem to be concerned about the proliferation of new projects, reports the Bee's Kevin Yamamura.
"Representatives of Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said Tuesday that their houses had no bills lined up to freeze new redevelopment projects."
"An immediate moratorium would likely require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature, the threshold for all urgency bills that take immediate effect. But neither Democrats nor Republicans are unified on the redevelopment issue."
Turning from money to water, the winter rains have result in a nine-fold increase in the projections for summer water supplies, but the farmers say it is not enough.
From the Fresno Bee's Marc Grossi and Robert Rodriguez: "Unless allotments rise further, "we are going to have to pump from our wells and that will add to our costs," said Steve Moore, who farms 800 acres of pistachios and almonds in Westlands Water District. "We are going to have to bite the bullet again."
"Westlands and many other west-side districts buy water delivered from the damaged Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Water pumping has been restricted to protect endangered and threatened fish, such as the delta smelt."
Meg Whitman is going to make a public appearance -- sort of -- when she addresses the Bay Area Council's Women's Executive Roundtable on Jan. 31. The Chronicle's Joe Garofoli tells the tale.
"But.... no press allowed. And she won't be chatting with reporters before or afterwards, either."
"Hey, we love the Bay Area Council, whose members are CEOs and senior level execs. And snagging Meg's first post-gov appearance is a GREAT get for them. But when we were asked to moderate an event for the Council, we didn't demand to keep out the press. (OK, so only Comrade Marinucci showed up, but still!)"
"One question for the Council: What's up with that?"
Speaking of Republicans, James Rogan -- the former Assembly member, congressman, pal of John Burton and now an Orange County judge -- prosecuted Bill Clinton's impeachment case before the Senate. He's got a stack of notes and he's ready to write his book, reports the OC Register's Frank Mickadeit.
"Rogan wasn't sure he would ever write a book, or at least allow one to be published in his lifetime. "I won't spare anybody in it, including myself," he told me at the time. "Some conversations are very brutal, very partisan, very ugly."
"Well, now he's ready to publish. I ran into him Monday night at the Irvine Marriott where, as a Superior Court judge, he was asked to swear in the Republican Central Committee. "Catching Our Flag: Behind the Scenes of a Presidential Impeachment" will be published in early May by WND Books, a house friendly to conservative topics (i.e. "The Tea Party Manifesto".)"
And now we turn to our "King of Tides" file to find out that the high water is headed for Baghdad by the Bay. It's climate change at work.
"This week, seasonal high tides, known as "King Tides" will roll into the Bay Area, providing a preview of what the region might face if sea level rises over the coming decades as predicted."
"So the organizers of the Bay Area King Tide Photo Initiative want you to grab your camera and help document the tides. The San Francisco Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) has set up a Flickr site for the photos, where participants can upload their "before, during, and after" shots..."
"Sea levels have risen about eight inches in the last century, and the San Francisco Bay Conservation & Development Commission (BCDC) advises planners to prepare for a sea level rise of about 16 inches by mid-century and 55 inches by 2100. A rise like that could inundate 41 square miles of coastal land according to a2009 Pacific Institute study."