In any endeavor, be it Boy Scouts, church, business or forming a city government, etc. there must be a set of rules agreed upon and adhered to by all.
When these rules are not applied because of misinformation (caused by lack of study), misinterpretation or just plain lies, the end result can only be frustration, distrust and failure.
One such total failure herein has been Redevelopment!
In 1990, I was on the committee that put forth a set of rules based on the needs of this city and laws by federal, state, county and city. Upon its completion, we sold to the voters within the project area with promises of street rehab, parks, industry and or course a new clean and viable city. In 16-plus years, there has not been one foot of infrastructure (street pavement, curb, gutter, sidewalk, drainage, lighting, etc.) accomplished attributable to the efforts of our RD program! Nor has there been much success in other areas.
Sometime ago, our administrator agreed that we needed to produce a small RD assessment district for a street improvement to be used as a show piece.
I was recently approached by a Clearlake resident asking if I could help him set up an assessment for his street. It was a perfect area for the show piece!
We then met with our administrator and explained the situation and our desires. He was enthusiastic about our efforts, which led us to our next step.
I then acquired the city”s specs for street construction and took them to Epidendio Construction. One of its estimators met with us on the site and a few days later came forth with an estimate of cost for us to work with. Things were falling into place nicely.
Again we met with our administrator.
It didn”t take him long to inform us that we could not use the redevelopment program! Why? “Because there was no money.” I asked about the other $7 million that is earmarked for street improvement that RD has. We were only looking for $80,000 for the write-down. This money would eventually be returned through tax increments.
He told us that the money can not be loaned, it must be given away?
At this point I left the meeting but I could not help but wonder who gets the $7 million.
I”ll give you three guesses but the first two don”t count.
Roy Simons is a councilmember for the City of Clearlake.
Don”t forget to write!
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