Don’t miss an article in Reason.com, by Tim Cavanaugh, entitled L.A.: Leading the Nation in Vacant Lots, September 7, 2010, discussing some of the fiscal misadventures of the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency. Here is an excerpt:
“The CRA’s post-1992 involvement in South L.A. has produced a nearly unbroken string of million-dollar projects that don’t get built. These projects come with big promises of affordable housing, high-end retail, world-class restaurants and private-public achievement. They proceed through costly subsidies and exploratory efforts. They nearly always involve eminent domain seizures of valuable land. They get gorged on by the friends and families of local politicians. And in the end, they produce vacant land.
“The CRA maintains a euphemistic log of its failures, so you can see what I’m talking about. The 107-acre Watts Project has become nothing. The Normandie 5 Redevelopment Project has become nothing. The massive and heavily promoted Marlton Square project has become nothing. My personal favorite, the Vermont/Manchester project, has become nothing.”
For the entire Reason article go to http://reason.com/blog/2010/09/07/los-angeles-leading-the-nation
Follow up. For another reason.com article reviewing the dismal record of the Los Angeles redevelopment agency, go to http://reason.com/archives/2010/09/09/whole-lotta-nothing-in-la