Dear Councilmember O'Donnell,

At the last council meeting you indicated 'it's time for redevelopment to
step up to the plate.'  There has been extensive reaction to your statement
and many wonder what it is you are expecting redevelopment to do.
Redevelopment already is providing tens of millions of dollars in city
infrastructure improvements from libraries, to police substations, to
streets, gutters, alleys, sidewalks, ADA requirements, parks and medians to
name a few while supporting many former general fund employees and programs
to extensively alleviate costs from the general fund.  We all understand
these to be city obligations, not redevelopment.

Redevelopment funds are to be used to eliminate blight.  The interpretation
of 'eliminating blight' runs the gamut from subsidizing developers,
building city infrastructure, funding economic development, providing
housing, and some even feel redevelopment should fund social programs to
address the root problems of that contribute to blight.

We all know that redevelopment has finally been able to accumulate funding
to accommodate a very long term vision to improve very specific and
extremely blighted areas of this city - areas that have been subject to
chronic neglect, that have overwhelming social and economic issues, that
require the use of redevelopment for the marked improvements of these
designated project areas as originally planned by prior councils over the
past several decades.

In the city's current financial condition it is overly simple 'solution' to
take redevelopment funds and use them with little consideration for their
original intent.  The city has extensive needs.  We do not doubt the need.
My opinion and that of many others is that redevelopment is not the city's
piggy bank nor is it the city's slush fund and it should not be used as
such.  The city's financial problems have already determined to be
inadequate funding for ongoing operations.  We also know that redevelopment
funds will not be here forever, they are not 'ongoing' and they already
have a very big and ominous job to do.  Redevelopment funds are not the new
city reserves to be spent down indiscriminately.

The city council and management staff must concentrate on remedies to this
unbalanced funding situation in the city's general fund.  Redevelopment may
offer short term relief but we are all aware this is definitely not how
redevelopment is intended to be spent according to California Redevelopment
Law. Redevelopment is not the answer to the city's financial problems
although there are very large temptations to misuse these funds or to
create loans for premature pay back purposes to support the general fund
right now.

Redevelopment is a hard fought extensive program that does not need
competing nor circuitous influences and interpretations to spend funds.
There are already too many appropriate and earmarked needs for those funds
to eliminate blight  in designated project areas right now to try to
stretch the understanding or interpretation of how these funds could be
spent.  As stated, redevelopment funds have already built extensive city
infrastructure and paid for too many positions, programs and costs with
little return for blight removal in the areas that need it most.  It truly
is time to allow redevelopment to do what is supposed to do, which is to
eliminate blight in the predetermined areas of the city that have been
designated and approved by past councils to be blighted.  This is a long
term issue requiring vision far beyond the city's current financial
problems.  You are going to have to come up with better long term
solutions, because you are simply not there yet.

Respectfully submitted,

Laurie C. Angel