Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "la shelle dozier"

State of Downtown: ‘Dreamers are welcome’

2013-01-21T06:22:28Z

The 15th State of Downtown Breakfast took place last Tuesday morning at the Sacramento Convention Center, with Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom as keynote speaker.

Michael Ault, executive director of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, opened the event and ran through a plethora of topics and issues. Public safety, K Street, the sale of Downtown Plaza and parks are just a few of the many that were highlighted.

“Personal connection makes a difference,” Ault said, regarding the 26 new businesses that opened up in the district last year. Ault cited the executive committee’s efforts to get to know brokers, owners and storefronts as the difference. He was optimistic about the strides that have been made, but also called out to civic leaders, property owners, entrepreneurs and downtown brokers.

“We need our civic leaders to instill a culture of can-do attitude and create a start-up-friendly focus at all levels of city and county government. Together we can foster an environment that helps cultivate local talent.”

“We need to be creative,” said Ault in reference to developing the area and dealing with competition.

The annual VIBE award is given for just this, and this year it was given to Sid Garcia-Heberger for her work with the Crest Theatre.

Nominees for this year's award included Troy Carlson (Theatre of Lights), Carina Lampkin (Blackbird Kitchen & Bar), La Shelle Dozier (Studios at Hotel Berry) and Mike Hargis and Clay Nutting (Launch Festival). Nominee videos can be viewed by clicking on the name of each nominee.

Ault also said a few words about outgoing Police Chief Rick Braziel and all that he has done for the downtown area.

Mayor Kevin Johnson began by thanking the elected officials in the room before going on to discuss the year’s accomplishments and the process he referred to as “shifting from recession to recovery.”

Johnson’s next item of discussion was a “state-of-the-art entertainment and sports complex.” He introduced keynote speaker Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, but beforehand spent just under ten minutes introducing and detailing his “Playing to Win Strategy” regarding the Kings, a downtown stadium and the March 1 NBA filing deadline – all following the model San Francisco used with the Giants.

Newsom applauded Johnson for his persistence in “a world that is so in need of leadership,” and echoed Ault’s call for creativity.

“What world are we living in?” Newsom asked, using words like unique, individual and distinctive, but also Facebook, Twitter, apps and the Cloud.

Newsom strongly stressed the importance of learning from your competitors, whatever your business.

“We’ve got to get back to the future business,” Newsom said.

“If you don’t like the way the world is when you’re standing up, stand on your head; go local. Remarkable things are happening in local governments.”

Just minutes after using Wal-Mart to demonstrate how to case your competitors, Newsom went on to underscore the importance of the little things.

“Sweat the small stuff,” Newsom advised, in closing.

Editor’s note: The “News Digest” goes out every Tuesday morning and highlights our best stories, photos and videos from the week prior. Sign me up.

SHRA prepares obligation payment schedule

2011-08-30T04:40:34Z

At first glance, it seems that the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency may be writing some big checks over the next few months – an estimated $111 million – but the payment schedule going before City Council Tuesday is not as simple as it appears.

In a recent case challenging new state redevelopment laws, the California Supreme court directed all redevelopment agencies to compile a list of their financial obligations along with a schedule for making payments and submit them to the state.

The payment schedules, called Enforceable Obligation Payment Schedules (EOPS), totals up the “relative obligations” of redevelopment projects and outlines a payment schedule through the end of the year, Don Cavier, SHRA director of finance, said Monday.

Relative obligations, Cavier said, includes not only loans and bonds on all projects, but also any lease payments, third-party contracts and administrative costs associated with the projects.

“All of the costs, large or small, are factored in,” Cavier said.

For SHRA, the total amount of obligations to be paid over the next five months is “conservatively estimated” to be about $111 million, according to Cavier.

This isn’t new debt, however. It’s a “snapshot” of what the agency is already obligated to pay for redevelopment projects that are either completed or well under way, Cavier said.

Cavier and his staff arrived at the numbers after weeks of combing through the general ledger, invoices, service contracts, loan information and contracts with third parties to compile the detailed information.

“It was a tedious process,” said La Shelle Dozier, SHRA executive director. “Staff from all departments were involved because we wanted to make sure we were being as accurate as we could.”

On Aug. 9, the Sacramento City Council opted in to the Voluntary Alternative Redevelopment Program, making SHRA liable for “continuation” payments to the state to stay in business.

SHRA is not obligated, though, to any of the elimination bill (AB1x26) requirements – or so they thought.

The EOPS requirement was only found in AB1X26, and was intended to make it easier for the entities that would eventually take over eliminated agencies to know how much money still had to be paid for agency projects.

“The EOPS shows what would have to be paid (and when), if we were dissolving the agency,” Dozier said, “but, we aren’t doing that.”

According to the SHRA, If all of the outstanding redevelopment obligations had to be paid at once, the total would be approximately $923 million.

It doesn’t have to be paid all at once, though, Cavier said.

“Some capital projects are paid when they are competed, other projects have bonds associated with them (which) go on for many years,” Cavier said. “Not all of it is on a set payment schedule.”

Attorneys disagreed about whether the court’s direction applied to agencies that opted in to VARP before the stay was issued by the court, said Lillian Henegar, director of policy and outreach for the California Redevelopment Association.

Until the court says one way or the other though, Dozier said, the SHRA is going to “err on the side of caution” by following the court’s direction.

“We’d rather have it completed and find out we didn’t need to do it,” Dozier said.

According to the provisions of the state legislation, SHRA is obligated to an initial continuation payment to the state of $18.3 million, with the first half due Jan. 15 – the day the court is expected to hand down its decision on the legal challenge.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her @MelissaCorker.

City decides to keep redevelopment agency alive

2011-08-11T00:54:39Z

Redevelopment in Sacramento will continue, but it will cost the city more than $20 million.

The City Council unanimously approved an ordinance Tuesday that allows the city to make an initial $18.3 million payment to the state in order to maintain the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency.

The ordinance – an emergency measure that takes effect immediately – authorizes the city to participate in the “Voluntary Alternative Redevelopment Program” (VARP) under a new state law (ABx27) enacted in July.

Participation in the program allows redevelopment agency activity to continue as long as continuation payments are made to the state each year.

La Shelle Dozier, SHRA executive director, said that in order for Sacramento to stay in the redevelopment game it must make an initial $21.8 million payment – $18.3 million from the city and estimated $3.5 million from the county – paid in two installments in 2012, plus $4.2 million from the city and $839,000 from the county annually thereafter.

According to the new state law, if the city and county didn’t create an ordinance to opt into the VARP and make the VARP payments, the redevelopment agency would be dissolved as of Oct. 1.

“Every project we have generates jobs in the region,” Dozier said. “In these economic times, that will have a huge impact.”

The city will make the required payments to the state to prevent “the total loss of benefits provided by the Agency to the taxpayers, property owners and residents of the city,” according to a report from city and SHRA staff.

On July 18, the League of California Cities (LOCC) and the California Redevelopment Association (CRA) filed a petition in the California Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the new redevelopment agency laws.

New Sacramento City Manager John Shirey said on Aug. 4 that he will be doing double duty as both city manager and taking part in the lawsuit against the state, of which he was a part as executive director of the CRA.

While the legal challenge makes its way through the courts, the City Council isn’t waiving any legal rights by enacting the ordinance. If the challenge from LOCC and CRA is successful, the City Council can repeal the ordinance.

The VARP payments will be made “under protest,” the ordinance states, and the city will have the right to recover payments (plus interest) if the courts determine the new redevelopment laws are unconstitutional or illegal.

Craig Powell, president of local political watchdog group Eye on Sacramento, addressed the City Council Tuesday with concerns that continuing SHRA will have a negative impact on the city’s general fund.

“What would the general fund receive on an annual basis if the redevelopment agency went away?” Powell asked. “You would not be doing your job if you did not know what you’re giving up in the way of cash to the general fund by making this payment to keep the RDA alive.”

Powell criticized the SHRA as a “debt-creating machine,” saying the agency has run up $1 billion worth of debt.

Powell said in an interview Wednesday that, if the agency is dissolved, that debt would be paid down and income for the city coffers would increase – to the tune of approximately $15 million annually after 10 years, according to Eye on Sacramento estimations.

Powell said that funding from property tax revenues currently going to redevelopment agency activities could be restored to the general fund “for badly needed police, fire, parks and other general services.”

Interim City Manager Bill Edgar and Dozier responded to the criticism Tuesday night by noting the ordinance to continue redevelopment agency activity does not require the City Council to pledge any general fund revenues to make the VARP payments.

Any payments required under ABx27 will be funded solely from SHRA funds or assets transferred to the city, Dozier said.

Additionally, SHRA will suspend tax increment allocation to the Low and Moderate Income Housing Fund (LMIHF) for 2011-12 to help make the initial VARP payment.

“There is a cost to the city, however, in the way of delaying projects,” Dozier said. “Less redevelopment equates to less jobs.”

In 2010, SHRA invested more than $25 million in 76 redevelopment projects, according to the staff report. Of those projects, 18 were completed in that year, resulting in 530 temporary and permanent jobs.

Dozier said it was necessary to enact the VARP ordinance right away because, otherwise, SHRA’s redevelopment activities would be suspended and the agency would be dissolved as of Oct. 1.

Without adoption of the ordinance, projects such as the La Valentina development project, the 65th Street bus transfer relocation, Township 9 affordable housing component, and 800 K Block and 731 K St. enhancements would be immediately impacted, according to the staff and agency report.

The next step for SHRA, Dozier said, is to file an appeal to the state regarding the payment.

“Since the agency has seen a steep decline in our tax increment revenue,” Dozier said, “we can file an appeal and that may lower our (payment) obligation.”

Dozier said SHRA staff is reviewing its annual project budget so it can determine the exact amount the city will need to put forth for the continuation payment.

SHRA will report back to the City Council in November with that amount as well as the amount of project defunding necessary.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

State budget brings good news and bad news for Sacramento

2011-07-14T01:39:44Z

The new California state budget reduced spending by $15 billion and potentially includes an additional $2.5 billion in cuts – but it’s not all bad news for Sacramento.

Some of the impacts of the state budget on Sacramento were outlined at the City Council meeting Tuesday, most notably problems stemming from changes to redevelopment, realignment and motor vehicle license fees.

“The best thing I can say is that it was an on-time budget,” said David Jones, lobbyist for the city of Sacramento.

The budget was balanced using $4 billion in projected revenue increases, Jones said, and about 40 percent of that is “just hopeful thinking and subject to litigation or challenges.”

That’s good news for the city, Jones said, because some increases in the budget would result in significant revenue loss for the city if they remain in place.

One aspect of the state budget that will have a deep impact on the city is the restructuring of redevelopment agencies.

According to Jones and Leyne Milstein, city finance director, redevelopment funds from tax increment funding through the state bring approximately $3.5 million to the city and county each year.

Under the state’s new Voluntary Alternative Redevelopment Program, the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA) will have to come up with an initial $22 million “continuation payment” to continue its operations, or it will be dissolved.

If that happens, said La Shelle Dozier, executive director of SHRA, numerous Sacramento redevelopment projects in the works will be stalled unless alternate financing is identified, and some projects would never come to fruition.

Jones said the California Redevelopment Association is filing a lawsuit to stop the new redevelopment agency legislation but, until that litigation is resolved, redevelopment agency activities in Sacramento are on “uncertain ground.”

Another item in the state budget that will impact the city comes from the realignment of public safety programs from the state to local governments.

Senate Bill 89 (SB89) diverts 100 percent of motor vehicle license fee revenues from cities to counties, using it to fund public safety activities that have been realigned from the state to the counties.

Until last year, Sacramento received approximately $1.7 million from vehicle license fee revenues annually.

“Realignment is one of the major features of the governor’s budget,” Jones said. “There will definitely be an impact (to local government) down the line.”

The governor’s realignment strategy involves shifting low-level offenders from state institutions to county institutions and local government programs.

“We’re going to see offenders crowded out of from our county jail and possibly onto the streets,” Jones said.

Other realigned programs, according to the governor’s budget summary, include local public safety programs, mental health, substance abuse, foster care, child welfare services and adult protective services.

“The measure passed in the very last hours of budget talks,” Milstein said. “If this legislation stays on the books, it will be a real hit to the city.”

The state budget isn’t all bad news, though, said Jones.

The Community Oriented Policing Services public safety grant has been approved, Jones said, and that means $763,000 in funding to the city.

Assembly Bill 678 (AB678), which provides reimbursement to local fire departments for emergency medical transport, is progressing through the Legislature and may be out of committee and onto the governor’s desk by the end of August, Jones said.

Additionally, transit agency funding has reached a higher funding level this year – the second-highest in its history.

“We’ve seen better-than-anticipated sales tax from the first quarter,” Milstein said, “So we’re keeping an eye on it, and it looks like a positive trend. Then we can adjust for it later in the year.”

Read the governor’s budget summary here.
Read the text of SB89 here.
Read the text of AB678 here.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Sacramento redevelopment future in jeopardy

2011-07-09T01:21:03Z

The future of development and affordable housing projects in Sacramento is starting to look pretty grim. Gov. Jerry Brown signed the state budget into law June 29, putting two new bills into effect that significantly impact redevelopment agencies: ABx26 and ABx27.

“There is no good news in any of this,” said La Shelle Dozier, executive director for the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA). “It’s very detrimental, given the fact that we have an economy that’s struggling.”

The two bills go hand-in-hand. ABx26 says redevelopment agencies can opt to discontinue redevelopment activities and be dissolved.

ABx27 says that if redevelopment agencies pay a first-year lump sum payment and then commit to annual “continuation payments,” they will be allowed to continue their redevelopment activities – with additional limitations and without any tax increment funding from the state.

Tax increment funding through a redevelopment agency is one way cities and counties are able to finance redevelopment and affordable housing activities.

Over the last six years, tax-increment funding has resulted in the production of 7,329 housing units in the Sacramento area, including 3,189 units for very-low income and homeless families, Dozier said.

According to the provisions of the new legislation, redevelopment agencies have until Oct. 1 to either dissolve or make the first-year continuation payment to continue redevelopment activities.

“We are conducting an analysis of current projects to see how we would generate (our) estimated $22 million payment as well as an evaluation of projects if the agency must be dissolved,” Dozier said.

Each redevelopment agency is subject to a specific first-year and continuation payment schedule, calculated using a formula outlined in ABx26.

For SHRA, which is an authority of both the city and the county of Sacramento, the “year one” payment amount would be $22 million, Dozier said, and continuation payments are estimated to be approximately $5 million every year after that.

~~Once the SHRA governing boards have an opportunity to review the completed analysis, Dozier said, they will give the agency their recommendations on the options available.~~

Once the agency has an opportunity to review the completed analysis, Dozier said, she will give the SHRA governing boards recommendations on the options available.

“Right now, we’re in a state of limbo,” Dozier said.

At this point, several major redevelopment projects in Sacramento are currently stalled, Dozier said.

These include the 800 K Street project, a mixed-use development to help revitalize the center of downtown; the 65-acre Township 9 project, which is a $1.7 billion mixed-use urban fill development, and Veterans Village, a proposed new construction development in the Mather Redevelopment Area that would provide affordable housing for veterans.

Some projects that have already been approved, however, would not be affected by the new legislation, including the Seventh and H streets project, the La Valentina project on 12th Street, and the Hotel Berry renovation project, Dozier said.

These three projects are slated to provide, in total, nearly 250 affordable housing units and create more than 400 jobs, according to Dozier.

"(Redevelopment agencies) do great work – phenomenal work,” said Eric Rasmusson, a Sacramento lobbyist who works on local housing issues. “But we can't afford them the same way anymore. That's the message of this state budget."

By eliminating redevelopment agencies, Brown anticipates a $1.7 billion savings in cost offset to the state general fund.

“Right now, we’re prohibited from engaging in any new redevelopment activity,” Dozier said, “so we’re focusing on existing projects to keep them moving forward.

“We’re hoping for relief from the courts so that we can continue working on projects that were heading toward various stages of approval,” she added.

Kathy Fairbanks, a representative of the California Redevelopment Association (CRA), said the association plans to file a lawsuit in the next couple of weeks challenging the new legislation.

“It’s unconstitutional,” Fairbanks said. "Proposition 22 passed last November by an overwhelming majority, and it specifically prohibits the state from doing anything with local funds, including redevelopment funds.”

Fairbanks said that, if ABx26 and ABx27 are allowed to stand, it will mean redevelopment agencies that are not eliminated will be forced to abandon projects – and any resulting jobs and economic opportunity – in order to make the required continuation payments to the state.

In the lawsuit, the CRA will seek an immediate stay of the two bills. If the court grants a stay, some or all of the provisions of the bills would be suspended until the court makes a final decision. Until a stay is issued, however, the legislation will remain in force.

There are 397 active redevelopment agencies throughout California, according to the CRA website.

The elimination of redevelopment in Sacramento would have significant unintended consequences, according to the SHRA website, including “no way to monitor affordable housing developments, no funding to put more money into affordable housing projects in the future, as well as direct and indirect job losses.”

“With the economy in its current condition,” Dozier said, “this is not a time to be putting redevelopment agencies out of business.”

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Editorial Note: Corrections have been made to this article after it was published. The incorrect information has been struck out and the correct information has been added.

Agencies plan to set up 419 winter shelter beds

2009-10-27T04:05:07Z

Despite Sacramento County’s financial crisis, the city and county intend to provide 151 more beds for the homeless this winter than last.

That’s because city officials expect 419 winter shelter beds to be funded through a variety of entities, including the city, nonprofit organizations, the federal government, the county and private donors. Last year, there were 268 winter shelter beds for the homeless.

“The strategy provides for a collaborative public and private solution to increasing winter shelter options for the region's most vulnerable population during the coldest months of the year,” according to an Oct. 27 report to the City Council from Cassandra Jennings, assistant city manager, and La Shelle Dozier, executive director for the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency.

Councilmembers will hear a presentation on the funding plan for winter shelter beds at their Tuesday meeting.

The funding allocation from the city would be $149,000; the county’s portion would be $168,000. Allocations are not yet final.

Mayor Kevin Johnson held a press conference Friday to announce that a multiagency task force found funding for 269 winter shelter beds. Johnson is chairman of the task force, which is part of the Policy Board to End Homelessness.

City spokeswoman Amy Williams pointed out Monday that the city also is receiving federal stimulus money that can go toward 150 more beds, bringing the total number of beds to 419.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.