LOSING RDA DOESN’T SCARE DOWNEY, BUT MAYOR COMPLAINS, ANYWAY
By The Downey Patriot
Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget-cutting proposal to do away with redevelopment agencies has entrenched parties up in arms throughout California, but doesn’t scare Downey officials at all. Does it?
Mayor Luis Marquez gave that brave impression to the Downey Patriot. He pointed out that Downey’s two project areas have a combined budget of $4.5 million and compared that with cities like Long Beach, Paramount and Cerritos, which he said are “heavily dependent on redevelopment revenue” to lure and retain business investment to designated areas. In fact, Marquez said, it’s not unusual for a city such as Cerritos to declare practically the whole city as a redevelopment area.
But in an interview with KABC-TV a few days later, Marquez came across as protective of the tax money that the state would take back from local cities and funnel into public education if redevelopment agencies were eliminated.
“How are we going to be able to create jobs if we don’t have the tools to attract businesses, to retain businesses and to do improvements?” Marquez complained.
