Redevelopment

Governor Jerry Brown is looking for a way to fix California's massive budget shortcomings. Early on, he let it be known that we had two choices: raise taxes or cut programs. Redevelopment agencies were on the chopping block, and Brown stated that he was going after services that would pinch the middle class. It seemed sound reasoning to me. Rather than cut programs that only impact the poor, which is what often happens, threaten things that the middle class actually cares about. Remind them that the taxes they pay serve them.

As the deadlines draw closer, however, I'm hearing more and more about cutting funding for the Redevelopment agencies and very little about extending and raising taxes.

The mania and hatred of taxes is something that I can't fully appreciate. We say we want smaller government and lower taxes (or no taxes), but we also complain about high unemployment. I don't know the numbers for every city, but in Oakland the city, county and state are the biggest employers we have. If you want to decrease the revenue of the government, then you're basically saying that you want less jobs available. Cutting taxes means more unemployment, more blight, more crime, more social ills.

There's a nice article about Oakland's need for redevelopment funding here.

What got my ire up this morning was this article in the Oakland Tribune. In particular, the Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia's comments really hacked me off. As someone who grew up in Pleasant Hill, I can affirm that yes, most of Contra Costa County doesn't need much redevelopment money. It's a great suburban sprawl full of wealthy people. What we have with Mr. Gioia is another example of the wealthy completely failing to take the needs of the poor into account. "If we don't need it, why should anyone else? After all, we've got space and lots and lots of shopping malls!"

So, please, Governor Brown, take Contra Costa County's redevelopment money. They neither need, nor want it. For the urban centers, however, just extend the taxes a bit. We can take it. It's worth the slight pinch.