Knabe Takes On RDA Closures, County Jails During Chamber Luncheon

Mandates from Sacramento have placed a burden on Los Angeles County services and the budget, said Supervisor Don Knabe Thursday during his annual State of the County address.

This year’s report, held during the Cerritos Regional Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, also cites a continued drop in unemployment in Los Angeles County, but the shuttering of redevelopment agencies last Wednesday by the state and the County budget seemed to be the Supervisor’s main focus.

“There are so many unknowns [to Sacramento’s decision] … and now [the County Redevelopment Agency] is responsible for all 71 redevelopment agencies,” the 4th district Supervisor told the audience as some groaned about the shutdowns. Knabe said he represented 17 local redevelopment agencies, which he said was the most out of all the supervisorial districts.

Knabe touted the positive impacts of local redevelopment agencies, including job creation and increased sales and property tax revenue from new businesses.

“Across California, right here in my hometown [of Cerritos], redevelopment has been resulting in new jobs and services,” he said. “If you don’t have a new project and if you can’t redevelop an area, you can’t generate enough money.”

Redevelopment agencies allowed cities like Cerritos and Artesia to designate certain areas as blighted and had the power to obtain properties in said areas through eminent domain, purchasing or leasing.

In addition to the demise of redevelopment funds, Knabe mentioned that 90 percent of the County budget is going to mandated social services and that recent state decisions such as diverting low-level state prisoners to local jails will impact the already-overwhelmed budget and the public safety—saying “there’s no room at the Inn.”

“[The state mandates] would take money away from that 10 percent of programs that we get to move around with—public safety, parks, libraries,” he said. “We should not be—as a county, as a city, as a school district or a community college district—a safety net for the State of California.”

In closing his address, Knabe confirmed that he will run for re-election for the last time in June due to term limits.

Attendees of the State of the County like Rancho Southeast Board of Realtors President Robert Rooks said that Knabe is doing his best to look after his constituents, but he would have trouble with dealing with Sacramento.

"The State is going to impede on whatever progress he can make or some of it, so he has to fight his way around that," he said. "Until the State is back on their feet--which they're slow moving--none of that money is going to trickle down [to the local level] because they're going to grab it."

After the speech, Cerritos Mayor Carol Chen also positively expressed Knabe’s support for cities in their fight against the closure of redevelopment agencies.

“Well our Supervisor clearly denoted the challenges ahead of us and as Mayor of Cerritos, I share his viewpoints and concerns of the elimination of the redevelopment agencies,” she said.

Cerritos has joined other cities in , but a judge denied an injunction blocking the law in January. Chen added that Cerritos and other cities are looking at other options at the moment.