Can California Solve Its Budget Deficit and Save Redevelopment?

Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster and a group of local stakeholders is circulating a proposal that would help the state of California and generate revenue for local redevelopment. Is it too late for a win-win in California?

1 minute read

May 4, 2011, 5:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur


The article features exclusive Q&A with the Mayor of Long Beach, Bob Foster:

"When we looked at the Governor's proposal, we said: what do we really need here? A lot of local governments need the extension of redevelopment areas; we also need reform; we also need to expand some of the definitions so we can go outside some of the projects areas to do things that would benefit those project areas."

"We then put a proposal together that has those elements-it would be attractive to local government to come into the process voluntarily. Then we took the housing set-aside, which is 20 percent, and used that money as a revenue stream for a 30-year bond. Then we took ten percent of the tax increment and use that revenue stream for a 30-year bond. The combination would enable us to defease-allowing for existing commitments-$12.6 billion in state general obligation debt."

Thanks to James Brasuell

Monday, May 2, 2011 in The Planning Report

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