City, County Leaders To Support Redevelopment Lawsuit
Leaders from Riverside County and a handful of local cities plan to announce their support of a lawsuit aimed at stopping a new law targeting redevelopment from taking effect.
Groups representing California redevelopment agencies and cities are suing the state to halt a change approved by the state legislature that would eliminate the agencies and funnel an estimated $1.7 billion to local services.
The California Redevelopment Association, the League of California Cities and two cities – San Jose and Union City – filed the lawsuit Monday with the California Supreme Court. They asked the court to block the redevelopment change from taking effect until the case can be heard.
On Thursday, Rancho Mirage Council Member Richard Kite; Cathedral City Mayor Kathleen DeRosa; Riverside County Supervisor John Benoit, Fred Bell with Habitat for Humanity; Keith Goff, Treasurer of Coachella Valley Economic Partnership; Cathedral City Police Chief Kevin Conner and Chuck McDaniel, IBEW 440, will hold a news conference to announce their support of the lawsuit.
The Legislature approved two budget bills in June that would eliminate the state’s 400 redevelopment agencies by Oct. 1.
It allowed local governments to launch new agencies if they agreed to pay a share of property taxes to local governments, replacing money the state pays.
Many Coachella Valley city leaders have expressed outrage at the redevelopment changes, claiming they will results in job losses, a reduction in projects and more money being squeezed out of city budgets.
Other cities and agencies called that a “ransom demand.”
