Bernardi Wants City Vote on Use of $4.25 Billion

Los Angeles City Councilman Ernani Bernardi wants to hear from the voters on how Los Angeles should spend $4.25 billion in projected downtown property tax revenues--money that Mayor Tom Bradley wants to spend, in part, on coping with the problems of housing shortages and gangs.

Bernardi, long a critic of the mayor’s and the Community Redevelopment Agency’s hold over millions in redevelopment funds, moved Tuesday to put the $4.25-billion question on the city ballot.

Bernardi said he would seek cooperation with the mayor’s office in preparing the advisory measure, which requires council approval and probably would not be ready until the June, 1990, ballot.

Long-Running Dispute

The effort is aimed at resolving a long-running dispute over who should control future tax-increment revenues generated by downtown redevelopment. Under a 1977 court settlement, a ceiling of $750 million was placed on CRA spending--a figure that is expected to be reached by 1997 or before. The mayor and the CRA are trying to persuade a judge to raise the limit to $5 billion. That money would be collected and spent over a 20-year period.

The citywide vote being pushed by Bernardi would be a non-binding referendum on whether the limit should be lifted or left as is, in which case future revenues would come under the control of the City Council.

Bradley is pushing an agenda that, with the ceiling raised, calls for the CRA to spend half the money on continuing downtown redevelopment--including additions to downtown’s skyline, a gentrified residential area and restored historic areas. The other half would be used to build affordable housing and to finance an after-school program that Bradley touts as the key to keeping youths out of gangs.

‘I Cannot Agree’

“I don’t question Mayor Bradley’s concern for the city’s housing crisis,” Bernardi said. “But I cannot agree that we should give the CRA $2.2 billion in property taxes over the next 20 years to build more high-rise buildings downtown.”

If the ceiling remains in place, Bernardi said, the city and county can still use tax money to pay for housing and anti-gang programs, and will also have more money to hire police officers and keep trauma care facilities open.