Let's Match the Tool to the Job

By Jon Sharkey

By creating an increment based alternative to redevelopment we can encourage decisions leading to more liveable communities.

Yet redevelopment can also mean the difference between a dying community and a vibrant downtown. Redevelopment can transform a decaying street into a vital neighborhood. Redevelopment can be a valuable component of the municipal tool box. And that is what we must remember -- redevelopment is just a tool.

Tools are interesting things. By themselves they are inert. Only by picking them up can we use them to build -- or to tear down. We use a screwdriver to turn a screw, a knife to cut. Yet how many of us have, at one time or another, used a knife to turn a screw? Such an endeavor is beneficial for neither knife nor screw, yet a certain result can be achieved.

As originally conceived, redevelopment was intended to be a tool for reversing "blight". By providing a legal and financial framework for private investment with public assistance, it became possible to reverse a downward spiral in many neighborhoods. As such, this has been a singularly successful process. The claims of some that there has never been a successful redevelopment program are patently false. I shudder to think where many cities in California would be without it.

The current system of municipal finance in California has, however, changed the way that redevelopment is used. Because so little of locally paid property tax remains local to be used for local needs, cities are eager to find ways to keep more revenue at home. Financially what redevelopment does is to allow local government to benefit from any increase in the value of the property within the redevelopment area by allowing it to keep more of the property tax at home where it can be used to benefit the community. The theory is that your property tax dollars mean more to you than to some legislator from Eureka who would otherwise get to spend them.

By focusing on the manipulation of the tax structure, the original concept of fixing blight has been stretched to perform a different function. The knife is being used as a screwdriver.

If you were to go to a mechanic and all he had in his tool box was a screwdriver, you'd better find a different mechanic. On the other hand, if he had every tool except a screwdriver, you still should find another mechanic. A good mechanic has every tool needed to do the job. It's time we looked at the tools necessary to do the job of local government.

Redevelopment is a valuable tool, but it should not be the only tool available. We should decide on the kind of communities we want, and then provide the incentives to create them. By allowing a greater rate of property tax return on the increased value created by "smart growth", job creation, or livable communities we can add a tool to the municipal tool box that will help us build a California that not only preserves our quality of life, but ensures its continuation for the next generation.

With the right tools, the job can be done. It's time we matched the tool to the job. It's time to create an alternative to redevelopment.