Alameda to Hire Don Perata to Lobby for License Plate Reader, Redevelopment, Funding

At its December 3rd meeting, Alameda City Council will consider a $90,000 contract with former California State Senator Don Perata that would see him lobby, on behalf of the City of Alameda, for funding for Automated License Plate Readers for the police department, and new state legislation to bring back redevelopment financing.

Local redevelopment agencies were abolished in California in 2011 after an initiative by Governor Jerry Brown to curtail them and return the underlying property taxes to the California K-12 education system.

At the time, 13 cents of every property tax dollar in Alameda County was diverted to redevelopment agencies to pay back bonds issued to fund construction projects; across California, roughly $10 billion in property taxes was being diverted to redevelopment agencies.

Now, the City of Alameda is pushing to restore the underlying redevelopment finance mechanism, called Tax Increment Financing, to redevelop Alameda Point.

Perata will also be asked to push for funding for a controversial Automated License Plate Reader system requested by the Alameda Police Department.

The full list of legislative items Perata is to help the city with is provided below:

1. Improvements to and expansion of Bay Area wide water transit with an emphasis on ferry service in Alameda
2. Conclusion of the Broadway/Jackson traffic improvements
3. New state legislation for Tax Increment Financing (TIF) (for Alameda Point in lieu of redevelopment)
4. Fire Station 3 funding
5. Emergency funds to develop tsunami preparedness plan
6. State and County transportation funding
7. License Plate Reader program funding
8. Streamline state mandated processes to encourage infill development