All of these “boo-hoo no redevelopment, no more fixing neighborhoods” articles completely ignore the fact that once a neighborhood is a redevelopment agency (RDA) project area, the place is deemed blighted and it allows eminent domain to be used on all properties, not the just the so-called blighted ones.
Unless a merchant has funds to do their project and is willing to have all their hard work taken away at the whim of the agency (or has $100,000 spare cash for a lawyer), they virtually halt all investment by anyone except those who know and play the redevelopment game. And we know they target areas that would do well without redevelopment. They usually don’t go to the truly blighted areas.
Being an RDA project area almost guarantees a neighborhood will hit the skids.
Linda Wilson owns a small business in Grantville and is CFO of the Grantville Action Group.