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From: L.A. Times, Letter to the Editor: "Re: 'CRA Backers Take Lead in Balloting' Based upon the results of the Project Area Committee election, cheaters [Padilla] do prosper. I'm a Latina who has lived and worked in the northeast valley my entire life, and I was sickened by the way poor Latino immigrants were given slates and forced to stand in line like chattel. While in line to vote, I had a chance to ask several of them what they knew about the candidates, and they responded that they knew none of the candidates, and were told their lives would improve if they voted for those people on their handouts. Before the election, I was open to the idea of redevelopment, but after seeing how Councilman Padilla and his staff manipulated the community, I've become completely disgusted! Jackie Tapia Arleta" From: L.A. Times, Letter to the Editor: WALTER N. PRINCE 牋牋燩lanning and Land Use Chair 牋牋燩RIDE Homeowners Group 牋牋燦orthridge Freshman Councilman Padilla should be ashamed of himself for being seduced by two CRA-financed organizations to hire six buses to shuttle 100 residents of the San Fernando Gardens city housing project to stuff the ballot boxes for a pro-CRA advisory committee in the northeast Valley ("CRA Backers Take Lead in Balloting,"Dec. 21). This kind of nonsense shows just how far the CRA will go to win approval of its outrageous attempt to take absolute control over 6,835 "blighted" Valley acres and rob the entire city of future property taxes for the next 45 years. 牋牋燭he CRA, close to bankruptcy, has recently laid off more than a third of its staff. But even this drastic measure has not solved its years of mismanagement problems. Its $340-million budget is so top-heavy with debt payments that it can't make ends meet, and it has asked the City Council to help out by giving it $9 million to make payroll for its 200 staff members this year. That's the same $9 million the city refused to spend to haul away trash that instead will go into the Sunshine Canyon dump in Granada Hills. 牋牋燬imply put, the CRA needs the property tax money that will be generated by the northeast Valley to stay in business. If it does absolutely nothing except make more meaningless promises to the community, approval of "the project" by the City Council means that the CRA will be allowed to directly confiscate a whopping $1.1 billion in Valley property tax receipts over the next 45 years. That's without one square foot of new structures being built. 牋牋燭here are also the very real questions of if, and when, any redevelopment will truly occur. The CRA's own environmental impact report says it can accomplish its objectives by developing only 71 of the total 6,835 acres, and its own current budget report admits that it does not intend to spend one penny in the area for another four years. 牋牋燛ven then, four years from now, the CRA's official budget does not include any new construction or redevelopment. Instead, the CRA will "create incentives" for homeowners to borrow money to remodel their own houses, and will help landlords find tenants for buildings near Hansen Dam, presuming the buildings are still empty at that time. 牋牋燩adilla, like many before him, has been sandbagged by the CRA. It is now time for him to wake up and realize that he has been had. He should put a stop to this blatant land grab and get rid of the CRA like a dog gets rid of fleas.
THE DAILY NEWS OF LOS ANGELES VOTER BUSING CRITICIZED Wednesday, December 22, 1999 Section: News Edition: Valley Page: N4 With one phone call to a transit company, community leaders got enough buses donated to transport residents from two low-income housing developments to vote in the election for control of the San Fernando Valley's largest redevelopment project. When those residents walked off the half-dozen buses at the Ritchie Valens Recreation Center in Pacoima on Friday evening, redevelopment supporters handed them stickers supporting the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency and a slate of pro-CRA candidates. Leaders of groups including Pacoima Beautiful and San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Legal Services said they wanted to help get typically disenfranchised residents involved in an important community issue. They contend the effort was nothing more than another way to help one of the city's poorest areas. ``We do this all the time. This is informing the community,创 said Marlene Grossman, of Pacoima Beautiful. ``We said come get involved, come get knowledgeable. Because if people who don磘 want (redevelopment) win the day, what a shame.创 Redevelopment critics and candidates who want the project scaled back counter that the bus service arranged with the assistance of City Councilman Alex Padilla tilted the election in favor of pro-CRA candidates by taking advantage of residents who know little about the project. Those same critics also said community groups who advocated on behalf of pro-CRA candidates might have violated federal laws prohibiting nonprofit groups from campaigning for candidates for public office. ``Those buses were provided on a discriminatory basis to people who are dependent on the social service system for various benefits. People are not going to get on a school bus on a Friday night and vote on something they know nothing about unless they are being cajoled to support a particular cause,创 said Glen Hoiby, one of the candidates opposed to the proposed project. The ballots cast by residents bused to the election are expected to have a significant impact on who wins seats on the Project Area Committee. Only 46 ballots were tallied after Friday's vote. The remaining 169 are considered provisional ballots because they were cast by people who registered just before the election. Their eligibility to vote was being reviewed before those ballots were expected to be counted by the City Clerk's Office today. The turnout was remarkable compared to the election two years ago, when the PAC was formed to advise the CRA on the Northeast Valley redevelopment project. Fewer than 50 people voted. ``I磎 very proud of the large involvement of the community. We should all hope that in any issue that affects a community that there would be such a large turnout,创 said Neal Dudovitz, executive director of the legal services group. Dudovitz explained that San Fernando Gardens and Van Nuys Pierce Park residents were targeted because those are residents his and many of the other community groups work with regularly. Tenant associations were informed of the election and that bus transportation would be available. ``We have a lot of problems trying to get low-income people to places to have their voice heard,创 he said. Laidlaw Education Services, the school bus arm of Laidlaw Transit, donated the buses after community leaders contacted the company. Laidlaw officials said the company donates buses to school and community groups across Los Angeles County as a public service. The company also operates a variety of services under contracts with Los Angeles and many other governments and agencies. ``We磛e been doing this for years. We get asked a lot and hardly say no,创 said Irwin Rosenberg, a Laidlaw vice president. While not opposed to helping more residents participate, critics of the effort said the buses should have been provided to all residents who might have needed transportation. The number of buses also was far more than the two buses City Council offices typically offer to each community group in their district annually. ``We磖e all for helping people get to the polls, but why don磘 we try getting everyone to the polls and not just people who are going to vote for a certain slate,创 said Jim Leahy, a PAC member seeking re-election. Padilla has declined to comment on his role in the election. David Gershwin, the councilman's spokesman, said there was nothing illegal or unethical about Padilla's assistance in arranging the bus service or supporting candidates who support redevelopment. ``At this point I think we磖e hearing sour grapes from anti-redevelopment people,创 Gershwin said. [RETURN to Main Page] [RETURN to Main Page] |
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