Redevelopment Panel to Be Named

Buying time to make friends out of foes, the San Gabriel City Council on Tuesday agreed to name a residents advisory committee to study a proposed redevelopment effort and then invited some of the issue’s most steadfast critics to join.

The move came without a formal vote Tuesday after it was clear the council could not decide even whether to proceed with the first phase of redevelopment: choosing an area of town to study for possible projects. The committee is expected to be named in early November.

Tuesday’s action is likely to delay the controversial matter until after April, when three of the five council seats are up for election. Supporters conceded it could mean the end of redevelopment talk in San Gabriel.

“They’ve just settled us down; they gave us a Pepto-Bismol,” said opponent Catherine Whitesell, representing more than a dozen residents who turned out for the session, at which the council was to decide how to proceed with the city’s only redevelopment proposal in 18 years.

In 1973, voters shot down a proposed redevelopment agency and shopping center project in the southwest corner of town.

This time, the council had been stalled on the matter for months in the face of resistance from residents who feared that their neighborhoods might eventually be lost.

Backers view the strategy as a way to raise tax revenues. This year, officials expect a shortfall of at least $250,000 on a budget of $14.9 million.

By employing the redevelopment process, the city would be able to acquire property in a designated area of town and offer loans to developers there.

“We’re trying to quell the fears of the people and get them involved,” said council member Dominic S. Polimeni, a strong supporter of redevelopment. Polimeni said he proposed the residents committee to win over opponents and to solicit ideas about how the city can raise money.

The main proposal before the council Tuesday included a survey area covering about a third of the city along San Gabriel’s main commercial arteries, including San Gabriel and Valley boulevards, Las Tunas Drive and parts of Del Mar and Mission drives.

Two competing study proposals had targeted about half as much land along most of the same streets.

During a 90-minute discussion, residents who live near Valley Boulevard said redevelopment was the wrong way to deal with San Gabriel’s money problems.

Whitesell pointedly asked council members one by one if they had or knew about any undisclosed building plans in the affected areas. Each denied knowing of any plans.