Second in a series
Re “Will Council Race Spring Sen. Price Into a Much Wider Spotlight?”
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Senator Price – but for how much longer?
Hoping to step up from the state Legislature to the Los Angeles City Council in a dozen days, Sen. Curren Price (D-Culver City) looked the opening volley in the eye and did not blink:
Does he regret voting affirmatively a year ago to ditch the state’s Redevelopment Agencies – especially since he plans to be on the other end of the barrel, hoping to win election to the vacated 9th District seat on March 5 or in the May 21 runoff?
The answer arrived with a caveat.
“I do,” Mr. Price said, “only because we (in the Legislature) were told there was going to be something that follows up. I think many communities, like Culver City, have viable, important projects that need to go forward, that are being put on hold because of a lack of funding, lack of a replacement mechanism.”
Acknowledging that many of the victimized communities now are obligated to send millions, in tribute, from their denuded coffers to Sacramento, the senator said he senses a happy ending.
“I have a good feeling those dollars will be coming back to the communities in some other form. The question is, what form?”
Why hasn’t Gov. Brown or the Legislature created a replacement in the nearly two years that have passed since Agencies were pronounced dead and the 14 months since the state Supreme Court affirmed the legal deaths?
“The governor has been adamant that he wants to close down these Agencies. Apparently, though, only a fraction have been closed. Others are in limbo, in denial or in opposition. In spite of the Supreme Court ruling, the governor’s office has indicated that most of the Agencies have not closed down. He is not going to do anything.
“I agree that we should be doing something more in the Legislature.
“But even with a (Democratic) majority in both houses, if the governor doesn’t sign it, it’s, you know, problematic.”
(To be continued)
