Seal Beach staff is looking at what, if anything, the city should do about Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to abolish redevelopment agencies.
“You said the magic word—proposal,” said Pat Importuna, Seal Beach’s interim city manger.
“We are internally accessing the situation as we speak,” Importuna said.
Seal Beach officials aren’t the only ones concerned about plans to eliminate redevelopment agencies.
“Gov Brown’s Budget statement calls for closing all the Redevelopment Agencies statewide with redistribution of the money not needed for bond payments,” said Robert Goldberg in an e-mail to Seal Beach’s City Council members. Goldberg, a Seal Beach resident and local activist, frequently comments on the city budget at council meetings and has written opinion pieces about the city budget for the Sun.
In his e-mail, Goldberg expressed concern that Brown’s proposal could cost Seal Beach a significant amount of money.
“We may be entering a “use it or lose it” situation. Therefore, I urge the Council to call a meeting of the RDA to discuss this issue at the next Council meeting on Tuesday, February 1st,” Goldberg wrote.
Some cities are apparently scrambling to respond to legislation that hasn’t been written yet.
According to LBPost.com, the city of Long Beach recently approved obligations for $1.3 billion to keep the state from taking Long Beach redevelopment monies.
The subject also came up during the Tuesday, Jan. 18 meeting of the Avalon City Council on Santa Catalina Island.
Avalon officials are apparently adopting a wait-and-see attitude.
Avalon City Attorney Scott Campbell pointed out that legislation hadn’t even been introduced yet that would make Brown’s proposal law.
Chief Administrative Officer Charlie Wagner—who shares duties with the Avalon city manager—said he doubted Gov. Brown would get 100 percent of what he wants.
Campbell said even if the proposal were approved, there would be lawsuits that would delay implementation of the proposal for two or three years.
Campbell said one of the legal arguments would be that voters had recently approved a law prohibiting the state from taking local monies.
However, Seal Beach City Manager Importuna said Seal Beach wanted to be proactive on the matter.
