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Shovel ready and pitchfork ready
Letter to the Editor - Contra Costa Times
Fears redevelopment agency
Letter to the Editor
Posted: 04/14/2009 12:00:00 AM PDT
Mayor Rob Schroder may have tipped something of the city's hand when he speculated that "now's the time to buy" by committing the awakening body of downtown Martinez to the anchor of a Redevelopment Agency.
Exactly what low-priced stock is he suggesting the city get ready to purchase? As a downtown homeowner, I can hazard a guess. By forming an RDA now, even one that loses money with tanking property values, the city gains expanded powers of eminent domain and can easily pick up those pesky older homes that are stubbornly blocking the three story parking garage that haunts his dreams.
At a time when state coffers are raiding RDA monies, and local governments are starting to realize that an RDA functions as a siphon, rather than a conduit, for school funding, we should realize that a redevelopment agency is not the same thing as "redevelopment."
The idea that only an RDA can move progressive growth is as implausible as suggesting AIG regulate itself. To a council with only hammers, everything looks like a nail.
Schroder has asked the city poise itself for an RDA plan he called "shovel-ready." If the City Council is shovel-ready, then the citizens of Martinez are pitchfork-ready.
Heidi Perryman
Martinez