By upholding the Legislature's power to end redevelopment, the California Supreme Court delivered a complete rebuke to cities and redevelopment agencies, deservedly so.
The high court also handed Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers an opportunity to restore the worthwhile aspects of redevelopment and, perhaps, use the opportunity to take a new look at how tax money is distributed.
The governor and Legislature were right to abolish 400 redevelopment agencies as part of their effort to reduce a $25 billion budget deficit. The state expects to save $1.7 billion by ending these agencies.
Too often, cities ignored the original intent of redevelopment, which was to revitalize city cores, and instead used the money to encourage developers to build sales tax revenue-generating big-box stores and auto malls.
Many cities hoarded sales and property tax money generated by those projects, to the detriment of neighboring cities and public schools.
Rather than compromise, the League of California Cities and California Redevelopment Association pushed initiatives to protect their turf, perpetrating the lie that the money was "theirs." They sued the state to have the 2011 legislation overturned, and had their comeuppance on Thursday when the high court ruled against them.
Now that cities and redevelopment agencies have been humbled, the Legislature should consider recreating sensible alternatives.
Some cities used redevelopment to clean up toxic waste sites and to encourage housing construction in urban centers, including homes for low-income people. Lawmakers should find ways to restore such uses and marry them with goals of more transit-friendly development, as envisioned by Senate Bill 375.
More broadly, the demise of redevelopment and its potential re-emergence offers legislators an opportunity to review how sales and property tax revenue is spread across jurisdictions. They should seize this opportunity, and Gov. Brown should welcome it, not frown on it.
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