Cities Are Playing A Blight Game

Redevelopment is a process designed to assist cities in revitalizing blighted areas, but it has become a mechanism through which cities attract and subsidize "big box" developments in efforts to generate revenue. Dan Walters highlights the misuse common in redevelopment schemes that occur throughout California despite reform laws and court rulings in this Sacramento Bee column. The original purpose of redevelopment-- creating more jobs, better housing and services in downtrodden areas-- is not being fulfilled, Walters states; however, the underlying causes of redevelopment abuse tie back to Prop. 13 in 1978 and the local property tax grab by the state in the 1990s, Walters asserts, leaving local government finances at the mercy of the state.