Wednesday, August 13, 2008

District 7 Grantville

From today’s Voice of San Diego:
http://voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2008/08/13/survival/485distseven081208.txt


Marti Emerald said she supports the Grantville Action Group, the group of some of Grantville's business and property owners who oppose the designation of the community as a redevelopment area. She said she sides with the small business owners there who fear being pushed out in favor of the new vision for the community under redevelopment.


A legitimate position especially in a City of Villages.


April Boling said she believes Grantville will redevelop whether it's a redevelopment project area --"Redevelopment, capital R," she calls it -- or not. She supports the creation of a master plan for Grantville and the creation of the redevelopment area. Her chief reason: reinvesting the tax increment generated there to take care of the big infrastructure needs in Grantville, like aligning Mission Gorge Road with Interstate 8.


The problem with redevelopment zones is that they encourage the creation of development corporations (CCDC, SEDC) that run over established businesses and create the Mission Valleys that April wants to avoid.

Redevelopment zones were created in he early 1970’s to help the most blighted areas get on their feet. What has happened is that local governments have used them, especially in California since Prop 13, to recapture taxes lost from property by creating a larger sales tax base in areas that questionably qualify as a redevelopment zones.

There is a Grantville Action Group that wants to have a say in their future. Let them. Small businesses are the backbone of a thriving society and they know their customer base best. Grantville isn’t where it could be but it’s not on life support. Making the area a redevelopment zone would deny the locals a fair say in their future and strip them of the responsibility of maintaining their own back yard.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's not ofter that the Democrat stands up for small business and the Republican is about government planning. Could be something in the water.

Anonymous said...

we do not want grantville to become a cesspool like la mesa. it is really fine just the way it is. the community has been developed, planned and built by its residents and is just fine the way it is. we do not want another LA type plaza/condo village to sprout up where there is already a thriving neighborhood. we absolutely have enough of those.

Anonymous said...

Interesting that Boling wants the developers to overbuild in Grantville and use the tax increment funds received by the redevelopment area to pay for upgrading the roads that the DEVELOPERS have impacted with more traffic from their apts and condos.
Hmm...I htought it was supposed to be up to the developer to mitigate the traffic impact on its development - not the residents who have to suffer from the extra 5,000 car trips per day on Mission Gorge Rd.

Once again, it shows that Marti is tight for this Council seat.