Redevolpment Mission Creep

Thanks to the Eureka Reporter for filling me in on some of the questions I asked about the Fireside Inn yesterday. This article goes on to explain that some recommended, as I suggested, the Fireside Inn be sold to a willing buyer and let them do what they feel is best with it. Some on the Eureka City Council wanted the Redevelopment Agency to take it over and do something with it that was in, to paraphrase, "the public interest".

I find this troubling, and believe it's just the tip of the iceberg of what's happening around the state. The Fireside Inn isn't in what's considered a blighted area. The Redevelopment Agency is supposed to be concerned with "blighted areas" (although I personally consider anywhere in West or Northwest Eureka a blighted area). So now we have the mission creep that results when an agency takes on a life of its own. What other properties in Eureka, or the rest of the county, will be safe from acquisition by any of the local redevelopment agencies, especially taking into account the recent Kelo decision by the Supreme Court? We're treading dangerous ground here, indeed.

As I've said before, I think many local politicos and bureaucrats like this system because they can isolate money for their own particular pet projects and then insist on raising taxes to maintain legitimate city business, such as streets and police and fire. Keep in mind also that most revenue received from redevelopment properties goes back to the redevelopment agencies, not the general fund of the city or county.

Some may wonder why I seem opposed to the Fireside Inn case as opposed to the Waterfront Development case which resulted in the Taxpayer's League lawsuit. For one thing, the property in the Waterfront case involved property that nearly everyone considered blighted and wanted cleaned up. Not so with the Fireside Inn case. Whether there should be an official redevelopment agency at all, is a legitimate question but what we see here [and around the state] makes me wonder if it might be past the point where there would be any realistic way to get rid of such agencies should we want to?

"There is nothing more permanent than a temporary government program."- Ronald Reagan