Residents Should Have Doubts About CRA Plan

Walter Prince, a member of the advisory committee that has backed the proposed--and exceedingly controversial--Community Redevelopment Agency’s earthquake recovery plan for the Northwest Valley, wrote an eloquent response recently to the doubts voiced by Bobbi Fiedler, a CRA commissioner, as to the wisdom of the plan.

Very eloquent--and very off base. What Mr. Prince failed to point out is that his advisory committee is just that--a group that advises. Regardless of agreements that the CRA might reach with the committee, the agency has the power to later overturn them. And Mr. Prince admits in his own letter that the CRA has the reputation of being a “conniving, power-mad bureaucracy.”

Mr. Prince also fails to point out that the membership of the advisory committee basically represents the business world. There was minimal representation looking out for the concerns of the residents and homeowners of the 12th Council District--the people who would be most affected by the CRA proposal.

He took issue with Ms. Fiedler when she noted that by diverting property tax increase funds to the CRA, Valley vital services such as police and fire protection and street improvements would be underfunded and thus reduced. Mr. Prince acknowledges that this could happen but blames it on the failure of the city to “budget itself correctly with the taxes it now receives.” This has nothing to do with the CRA plan for earthquake recovery, he claims.

I disagree. It has a lot to do with the CRA plan for earthquake recovery. Diverting tax funds away from vital services will indeed cause them to be underfunded, as Ms. Fiedler pointed out. That means we must do with a lower level of these needed services--or must cough up more in taxes.

Few homeowners were aware of the CRA proposal, or the very existence of the advisory committee, until recently. There now is a swelling tide of protest on the part of homeowners and residents opposing this ill-thought-out plan. Petitions are being circulated and eagerly signed, to be forwarded to the City Council.

We hope to get a more responsive--and responsible--reaction there.

RICK WEINER

Northridge