As redevelopment lies choking and dying in the blighted gutters of California streets, the City of Oakland is preparing to cut about 105 full-time positions from its payroll, in order to balance their already strained budget. Mayor Quan, knowing her constiuencies' buzzwords, assured everyone, "There were no cuts to libraries, no cuts to human services, minimal cuts to police and fire."
Some departments will be merged, and others will disappear. The exact layoffs have not yet been announced.
Oh, but they've created a new city department to essentially replace redevelopment and the former Community and Economic Development Agency, which will be called the Office of Economic Development and Office of Neighborhood Investment, which will be tasked with coming up with alternatives to redevelopment. The City of San Francisco may end up doing something similar.
For the wonks who remain interested, here's a breakdown of how Oakland was using redevelopment funds.
