Ventura Redevelopment

* With all the debate over Tuesday’s special election, I would like to urge Ventura residents to vote no on Measure A.

* In 1966, Ventura’s Redevelopment Agency created the Beachfront Project Area, its first, and initially funded it with a $7-million line-of-credit loan from the city’s general fund.

* In 1973, the redevelopment agency formed the Mission Plaza Project Area, funded with a $5-million line-of-credit loan from the general fund.

* In 1978, California’s electorate passed Proposition 13, which severely diminished the effectiveness of redevelopment project tax increment financing under California’s unaltered redevelopment laws.

* In 1991, the Ventura Chamber of Commerce swept the Ventura City Council election.

* In the spring of 1992, the chamber-backed City Council approved the 1992 Restated and Amended Cooperation Agreement, which directs the city to provide 100% support to the redevelopment agency’s line of credit with general fund reserves.

* In June 1992, the chamber-backed council forgave the $5.1 million that the agency owed to the general fund, bringing the outstanding amount to zero. If this $5.1 million had remained in the city’s investment portfolio, it would be worth about $7.53 million today.

* In 1995, chamber-backed candidates again swept the election.

* In 1996, the council lent the redevelopment agency $9.6 million from the city’s general fund to build the Century Theater and Downtown parking garage. The total project cost, including $100,000 lent in 1998, was $11.45 million. Century Theaters put up $1.75 million of the total.

* Due to a shortfall caused by the city’s loan to the redevelopment agency in 1996, the city had maintenance and operations budget shortfalls of $740,000 and $1.4 million in fiscal years 1997-98 and 1998-99 respectively.

* As of June 30, 1998, the redevelopment agency owed the city a total of $19,201,626.

The problem is that the general fund is the primary revenue source for fundamental public services such as police, fire, street maintenance, parks maintenance, engineering, planning and youth and senior citizen programs.

Redevelopment, as practiced in Ventura, is draining our city’s general fund dry, and the redevelopment agency is the root cause of the “blighting” of our city’s infrastructure and service levels.

If we do not stop this fiscal and economic madness soon, if it is not too late already, we will reach a point where our city government will not have the financial means to maintain, let alone improve, our city.

Vote no on Measure A and then let’s start repairing the “blight” that redevelopment has caused our emerald-by-the-sea community before it is way too late!

BRIAN LEE RENCHER

Ventura