In the Redevelopment game, developers have to have a track record of successful projects before they line up for their handout. The contest to see which city can give away the most to the richest is being defined by the current sports stadium craze.
This is clearly the richest game in town. It was not enough just to have the stadium provided. The team owners then wanted the income from the "boxes." When there were not enough boxes or they were not deluxe enough, seats had to be torn out so more boxes could be added. Then the stadiums were "too old," and new ones were needed. Now the latest "give me" includes enough land so the team owners can have a shopping mall as part of their new stadium. And of course it all has to be subsidized because they say the player salaries are so high.
All this is being paid for with your tax dollars, a diversion of property tax increment and matching sales tax dollars taken away from the money necessary to run a city-police and fire protection services, schools and libraries.
In the past, the giveaways were simply a land sale for One Dollar. That was so easy, the developers then asked for help on the building costs through a sales tax rebate. When these excesses were somewhat curbed by law, they just asked for even more participation by the cities for site funding. This need for cash is when the bonding got out of hand. Remember it just takes a simple majority of three people of a five person agency (usually the city council) to vote your grandchildren into debt that has little chance of being paid back. And the more debt a city takes on, the more likely it will be to refinance to push the payments out further-a house of cards waiting to come down.
For example, according to the state controller's report, the Redevelopment agency in the city of Brea has only a $14 million annual income, yet the agency has $618 million in debt. Does anyone honestly believe this debt is ever going to be paid off without state government intervention? Brea started by subsidizing the Brea Mall which decimated their downtown. When the Mall got into trouble it had to be helped again. Now they want to spend $100 million to revitalize their decimated downtown. This credit card Redevelopment will surely spiral into bankruptcy.
The last bonds in the state that do not have to be submitted to the voters are Redevelopment bonds. One way to stop this nonsense is to make Redevelopment bonds subject to voter approval. Another good cause for the voter initiative process.