Council Hears Views on Redevelopment

The Los Angeles City Council heard testimony Wednesday from about a dozen residents of the northeast San Fernando Valley who support a plan to use redevelopment powers to rebuild quake-damaged neighborhoods in that area.

Although only four people spoke against the idea, the council delayed until Nov. 29 a final decision on whether to establish an emergency redevelopment zone in the northeast Valley communities of Mission Hills, Pacoima and Sylmar.

The support voiced Wednesday was in stark contrast to public testimony Tuesday when the council heard dozens of Sherman Oaks residents speak out against an emergency redevelopment zone in that community. Those residents said they did not trust redevelopment officials to spend their tax dollars and to wield the power to condemn property.

As proposed, the redevelopment zone in the northeast Valley would stretch along hard-hit residential and commercial neighborhoods, particularly major thoroughfares such as Sepulveda, Van Nuys and Foothill boulevards.

The state’s redevelopment laws allow local agencies to keep all the property tax generated by new construction in a project area and use that money to pay for improvements such as new streets, parks and sewers, as well as loans for quake victims.

Supporters of the plan said the northeast Valley is in dire need of funding to rebuild quake-damaged businesses and homes. Most praised the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, thanking officials for proposing the idea.

“Money becomes a seed, a seed that grows,” said Randy Isenberg, the owner of the Bowling Center in Sylmar. “We want to provide the soil for that seed.”

Councilman Richard Alarcon, who represents the area, said the CRA cannot solve all the problems in his district’s working-class communities, but would help bolster other aide efforts.

“This is not the save-all proposal,” he said. “But it can be a very useful tool in the recovery.”