One day after the state Legislature gutted redevelopment, the system received another reprieve.
Gov. Jerry Brown unexpectedly vetoed the state budget Thursday morning, sending lawmakers back to find the billions of dollars needed to plug holes in the state’s books.
The redevelopment package was part of the budget, but passed as separate legislation. Capitol reporters have said that the Legislature has yet to send the redevelopment bills to the governor for his signature, but the leader of the state Senate said he assumed the governor would veto them, too.
For now, that means redevelopment continues in its current form. But given Brown and the Legislature’s attitudes over the past six months, the system not only remains on the chopping block, but also is close to being chopped. San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and nine other big city mayors continued to criticize the budget and the redevelopment legislation today as “an illegal and indefensible shakedown of our cities.”
I did an interview on redevelopment with NBC San Diego that’s expected to run during the 5 p.m. newscast.
Brown announced his budget veto on YouTube this morning. I laughed out loud at the beginning.
Please contact Liam Dillon directly at liam.dillon@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.550.5663 and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/dillonliam.