Dan Walters seems to be one of the only mainstream media journalists I come across who regularly writes in detail about legislative developments in Sacramento; I've been seeing him in print for years. I think he used to be pretty moderate and middle-of-the-road, but unless I'm imagining things, he's gotten a bit more libertarian-leaning over time.
Anyway, to the point... Walters' column in yesterday's (Sept. 22) San Francisco Examiner notes a very bad bit of legislation that may be coming down the pike [boldface added]:
"Senate Bill 628 by Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, surfaced just four days before adjournment.
It would re-establish local government redevelopment agencies as 'enhanced infrastructure financing districts' with virtually all their former powers.
But it eliminates many of redevelopment's safeguards, such as a requirement to establish 'blight', and also lowers the vote for bonds to 55 percent. Thus, it would re-establish -- and even enhance -- cities' ability to engage in crony capitalism with subsidies for favored developers.
The excesses of redevelopment led Brown and legislators to eliminate it a couple of years ago. Legislators have now reversed and it will be interesting to see if Brown follows suit, since anti-poverty and civil-rights groups oppose the bill."
Legislation making it easier for local governments to seize property without even having to go through the motions of declaring it "blighted", AND making it easier for voters to pass new bond measures -- just we need, NOT!
Governor Jerry Brown's office number is (916) 445-2841 (after connecting, dial 1, then 4 to get through to somebody -- at least that was the case the last time I called). I also have an email address for the governor's office, <governor@...>, but not sure whether that is current or not.
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))