An article in City Journal praises Governor Jerry Brown's efforts to defund California's redevelopment agencies at a time when the state faces a $26 billion deficit. The author writes that the agencies are wasteful and ineffective.
From article by Steven Greenhut at City Journal:
"In theory, RDAs spearhead blight removal. In fact, they divert billions of dollars from traditional services, such as schools, parks, and firefighting; use eminent domain to seize property for favored developers; and run up California's debt to pay those developers to construct projects of dubious public value, such as stadiums and big-box stores."
"The lesson: deregulation and private enterprise work better than central planning. Developers don't need subsidies and eminent domain to build in older cities; they need the relaxation of burdensome government rules and a reduction in taxes, which tend to be higher in urban cores. And they need the freedom to develop their own plans, rather than blueprints from city-hall planners."
FULL STORY: California's Secret Government
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