UPDATE: City Moves to Save Redevelopment Funds, Crossing Guards

UPDATE: The Walnut Creek City Council agreed Tuesday to a staff proposal to commit up to $5.4 million in current and future redevelopment money for public improvements and affordable-housing projects and programs.

Walnut Creek, like other California cities, including Concord, is attempting to protect millions of dollars in redevelopment money threatened by Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to eliminate redevelopment agencies as a way to balance the state budget.

The council, at its Tuesday meeting, also agreed to fund school crossing guards for one more year while community development and transportation staff look to work with Concord on negotiating a lower-cost contract. The council also directed staff to continue to pursue partnerships with other cities on paying for school crossing guards. 

ORIGINAL STORIES: 

The City Council on Tuesday will consider a staff proposal to commit up to $5.4 million in current and future redevelopment money for public improvement and affordable housing projects and programs. 

These projects and programs include putting utilities underground along Locust Street between Olympic and Mount Diablo boulevards, affordable-housing projects on Third and Barkley avenues, and providing up to $65,000 in loans to first-time homebuyers to help pay the costs of downpayments and closing costs. The city also has a plan, which expires in 2014, to use redevelopment funds to help develop "Block C," the stretch of Locust Street between Olympic and Mount Diablo boulevards. 

The city should quickly and proactively move to have contracts in place that commit funds to these projects, a report by the city attorney’s office says. Under Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal on redevelopment agencies, contained in his 2011-12 budget, the state could not take away redevelopment funds from cities that are committed to projects.

The state Legislative Analyst has recommended that state legislators adopt an emergency law to stop city redevelopment agencies from entering into the kinds of contracts that Walnut Creek staff suggest.

Concord’s City Council this past week voted to commit $112 in redevelopment money to already-approved projects and to continue ongoing economic development activities, the Contra Costa Times reported. 

Other cities around the state are also moving to encumber funds, enter into agreements, approve bonds and otherwise protect assets from state takeover.

Since the 1970s, Walnut Creek has used redevelopment money to “enact meaningful and lasting change in troubled and economically struggling areas.” They include high-profile retail establishments in downtown and affordable housing projects, including a 70-unit senior complex on Geary Road.

Assistant City Attorney Bryan Wenter said Brown's proposal faces major political and legal obstacles. Walnut Creek, fortunately, does not face as dire a situation as other cities, which are relying heavily on tens of millions in redevelopment funds over the next several decades to revitalize downtowns and other areas of their communities. 

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Back in June, when the city was trying to close a $20 million gap in its 2010-12 budget, council members chose to come up with  $110,000 for a program that posts crossing guards at 10 intersections around the city to help students safely get to school.

As council members agreed to one more year of funding, they told city staff to look for new ways to fund the program.

That’s what community development and transportation division workers have done, and they will bring their findings to the City Council for review. 

The best potential option is to form a partnership with  Concord, according to a staff report. It is hoped that the cities, together, could negotiate for services at a lower rate than they currently pay. The city has a contract with a company called All City Management that expires June 30.

Over a series of meetings, city representatives met with their counterparts in six other central Contra Costa cities that are part of TRANSPAC—the Transportation Partnership and Cooperation in the Regional Transportation Planning Committee for central Contra Costa.

Walnut Creek representatives hoped to develop a multijurisdictional approach to providing cost-effective crossing guard services. Currently, each of the cities in TRANSPAC maintains its own crossing guard program.  “This inconsistent approach has resulted in some cities, including Walnut Creek, being charged at a nearly 25 percent rate for the same or comparable level of service," the staff report says.

Four of the cities are satisfied with the cost and level of service they receive. Only Concord’s representatives expressed interest in the partnership with Walnut Creek.

At this point, city workers will continue to look at this partnership with Concord, as well as examine whether the city could reduce the number of intersections at which the guards work—which yield up to a 50 percent cost savings. Another option is for the city to save on costs of managing the program by handing those responsibilities off to the Walnut Creek and Mount Diablo Unified school districts. The city would still help pay for crossing guards by subsidizing programs run by the districts. 

Whatever direction the City Council chooses to go, the city will have to renegotiate a new contract if council members decide to continue to pay for crossing guards. The city is looking at paying $55,000 to $110,000. The council had to use money from its contingency fund to pay for the guards this fiscal year.

The City Council will discuss both issues at its meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m. The meeting takes place in the City Council chambers, 1666 N. Main St. Click here to view the agenda online.