Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)Since 2011, California lawmakers have lamented the demise of redevelopment, a state urban renewal program that provided billions of dollars for low-income housing development. There’s a new proposal in the Legislature now to bring a version of it back. On this episode of “Gimme Shelter: The California Housing Crisis Pod” we talk about why the program died in the first place — in part because in addition to housing, taxpayer dollars were financing things such as the construction of a downtown Sacramento bar featuring women dressed as mermaids swimming in an aquarium. Our guest is Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, who oversaw redevelopment’s dissolution as leader of the state Senate. Steinberg tells us what he’d like to see in a revived program, why homelessness is the most important issue facing California cities and how Sacramento is benefitting from an influx of Bay Area transplants.

Source: Los Angeles Times February 22, 2018 22:47 UTC