The CRA has come back from the dead — won’t somebody drive a stake into its heart and kill it once and for all before it sucks all our money?
Clearly, the board members of the Community Redevelopment Agency are for reasons known only to themselves suffering short-term memory loss.
It was just over a month ago, on March 8, that the convened for a joint meeting with the City Council for the purposes of finalizing terms of a “cooperation agreement” that would make the CRA part of the city itself — in act of defiance of Gov. Jerry Brown’s effort to abolish all such agencies statewide and put the tax dollars they have been squandering to better uses like keeping teachers and cops employed.
Two days later, the details were finalized, and in the CRA’s final meeting on March 17, the board ratified this item:
”CONVEYANCE OF ASSETS
CONSISTING OF PERSONAL PROPERTY OF THE COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY OF THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES TO THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES. ENTER INTO
AN AGREEMENT WITH THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES TRANSFERRING ALL OF CRNLA’S PERSONAL PROPERTY (I.E. OFFICE
EQUIPMENT; OFFICE FURNITURE; COMPUTER EQUIPMENT; COMPUTER SOFTWARE; VEHICLES AND EQUIPMENT; AND LEASEHOLD EQUIPMENT) TO THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES FOR $1.00 IN CONJUNCTION WITH IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COOPERATION AGREEMENT ENTERED INTO BY BOTH PARTIES DATED AS OF MARCH 10,2011.”
“CONVEYANCE OF REAL PROPERTY TO CITY OF LOS ANGELES. CONVEYANCE OF REAL PROPERTY AS LISTED ON ATTACHMENT A TO CITY OF LOS ANGELES FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF POTENTIAL REDEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES AS CONTEMPLATED IN THE COOPERATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CRA/LA AND THE CITY OF LOS ANG<
span style="font-size: 9.5pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(22, 19, 28);">ELES DATED AS OF MARCH 102011 ”
Reasonable people presumed that was the end of the CRA if not the end of the city’s welfare-for-the-rich giveaways of tax dollars for developments nobody wants or needs.
Not so fast. The CRA didn’t hold its meeting April 7 but now it’s sent out an agenda for a meeting on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. at the usual place, the Garland Center on West Seventh (CRALA Agenda A4-21-11-1.pdf).
First order of business: Another round of approvals of the gift of public land and taxes to billionaire Eli Broad for the Bunker Hill museum to house his personal art collection and provide parking for it as part of the still non-existent Grand Avenue Project that he got the city and county to buy into.
Next up is $17.5 million in aid to a project in the presumably blighted and poverty stricken area at Wilshie and Vermont — presumably that’s what CRA money is supposed to go for.
Other CRA gifts would prsumably help the ease poverty in booming Hollywood and heavily-endowed USC. There’s even some crumbs for South LA neighborhoods that actually are poor.
Whether the CRA is now a city agency rather than one created by the state, or it’s a ghost or a vampire, it is going to have to be dealt with it.
But Item 10 on Thursday’s agenda suggest the CRA Board really doesn’t want to hear what you have to say anymore than the City Council does.
“RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AT CRA/LA BOARD
MEETINGS: CHANGE RULES AND REGULATIONS REGARDING PUBLIC COMMENT AND MULTIPLE SPEAKERS AND CONFORM TO CITY COUNCIL RULES “
In other words, the board will limit how many speakers get to talk and for how long — rules the council invokes only when there are large numbers of malcontents filling the room.
It probably doesn’t matter anyway since the CRA agenda has “Public Comment” as the very last item, after everything has been voted on and just before adjournment.
UNBELIEVABLE CORRUPTION AT ITS WORST. WHERE THE HELL IS THE MEDIA ON THIS STORY?????? Can’t we get the FEDS, DA someone in power of authority over the corrupt LA politicians to do something about this? Can the legal residents of Los Angeles file a class action lawsuit for abusing tax payer dollars? There has to be something we can do to stop this corruption?
I totally agree. What would happen if I call the County Sherif or better yet mail
your article to him, I wonder. Do we even have a County Sherif? I will see what I can find out.
What I am going to do after I finish this comment
is fwd Ron Kaye’s message to L.A.County Sheriff Lee Baca and assk him to do what he can to stop this wholesale misuse of the taxpayers’ money.
“Core Value: As a leader in the L.A, County Sheriff’s Dept, I commit myself to honorably perform my duties with respect for the dignity of all people,
inteegrity to do right and fight wrongs, wisdom to apply common sense and fairness in all I do and courage to stand against bigotry in all its forms” – ignorance of laws is not the people’s fault.
If the CRA Vampire has riseth again, we can always resort to hanging garlic garlands all over City Hall and then drive a stake through its evil heart.
It’s good to see Chris “Crybaby” Essel whine and cry for more “public comment” changes! That translates into public commentators have made these pigs JUMP, AND JUMP HIGH AND MIGHTILY THEY DO! The L.A. Times, Daily News, Doug McInObama, Kevin MayorWannaBeJames, Darth Gaga Trutanich, Sheriff Cow-ard (Baca is Cow in Spanish), Chief Schmuck-A-Beck, and the rest of L.A. County’s Clowns, Pundits, and thieves all need the CRA to live off of.
It’s easy to understand how this CRA works. Here it is: THEY TAKE YOUR PROPERTY TAX MONEY (YES, ONLY FROM HOMEOWNERS) AND SKIM OFF THE TOP AND PUT IT INTO A GIGANTIC SLUSH FUND AND HAND IT OUT TO ALL THEIR BUDDIES, FRIENDS, AND LOVERS!
The large building’s, however, are CORPORATE OWNED—THUS WHEN THEY CHANGE OWNERSHIP—ONLY THE STOCK IS SOLD, THUS THE PROPERTY STAYS AT THE SAME ASSESSED VALUE!!!!
Meanwhile, single family homeowners when they move have to get hit under Prop 13 for double or more property taxes by merely moving from one crappy house to another! Thus, people are stuck where they are, incapable of MOVING THEIR ASSESSED VALUE WITH THEM TO A LARGER OR MORE EXPENSIVE HOME LATER WHILE BILLIONAIRES ARE FREE TO DO EXACTLY THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How would you cure the CRA in 10 years?
ANSWER—HAVE EVERY SINGLE FAMILY HOME PLACED IN A CORPORATION. Then when it comes time to sell, SELL THE CORPORATION WHO IN TURN OWNS THE HOME YOU’VE SOLD AND WHAMMO—THE NEW OWNER ENJOYS YOUR PRIOR ASSESSED VALUE!!!! Reason—the County would NOT record a change in OWNERSHIP–THE SAME COMPANY STILL WOULD OWN THE VERY SAME HOME! Just like Caruso and all those bastards do every year.
Now you in turn buy another home and YOU get that same tax break—this would in 10 years CRUSH THE CRA AND SACRAMENTO THIEVES without even having to “reform” prop 13 or have a single vote!
It’s time for People to get together and make widespread policy decisions like this and put a mechanism in place to cheaply, easily, and affordibly hold on to more of OUR MONEY and keep it from THESE POLITICIANS.
Also VOTE VOTE VOTE all office holders OUT OUT OUT at the same time.
The CRA lives and breathes off the taxpayer who LEAST CAN AFFORD TO PAY THESE EXHORBINANT FEES.
Then it transfers all that $$$ to the most wealthiest in the Nation. This process has a name: it’s called FASCISM.
To the person who keeps posting on Sheriff Baca is in LA County. WE are in the City of LA and unfortunately are stuck with a whimp of a Chief Charlie Beck who couldn’t do anything anyway. We need the FEDS or State Controller or even Gov. Brown. On another topic you can add Charlie Beck to that corrupt group. Quietly last week he told the radicals LAPD will no longer cite truant students who by the way commit crimes when they fail to go to school. He used the same lame excuse as he did the vehicle impound. “I don’t want to burden those who can’t afford to pay the fines.” Beck needs to RESIGN as Chief. He’s a whimp ass who refuses to ENFORCE the law and is the puppet of the Mayor.
To Anon, 6:55 AM
I agree with you – Beck is wrong and we neeed
to get him out without pensions or anything else.
Do you mean that no city in the county is entitled to Baca’s Sheriff’s Dept? Then why do we have a Sheriff? Most of us are in a town, city, suburb.
And let’s face it, Gov Brown played us all for the Fool.
Borwn had no intention of abolishing the CRA’s. It was as fake of Pro Wrestling. The Dems and GOP take turns being the villains, but the money always ends up in the hands of the owners, the Eli Broads of the world.
The CRA. Can they transfer assets for $1.00. The City of Los Angeles has a history of allowing Capital Assets walk out the door. Missing Assets and Unused Assets.