Tom Hair on the CRA
Hi Lloyd,
I hope this is not too long, but I would appreciate it if you could run the whole thing.
First, I did not ask for this report to be generated and as there was no motion passed by council asking the city manager to do so, I am somewhat surprised it was generated at all.
Second, I support the CRA as it is currently configured. As this city continues to grow in size and complexity it will become increasingly necessary for Council to delegate some of its authority to remain focused on issues of general concern such as spending, taxes, and overall infrastructure. City staff is already overburdened with the needs of the city as a whole and it would be difficult to focus the attention needed in the redevelopment area without an active daily presence.
Third, if the impetus for this study was a perception that the CRA has become a paper tiger, a view I do not share, then maybe the solution is to increase the authority of the CRA board to give the tiger some teeth. We should all remember what the purpose of a CRA is and why they are formed. When the State Legislature adopted the Florida Statues giving municipalities the ability to establish CRA’s it was the intent to create a somewhat autonomous, non-political entity that could focus its attention and dedicate itself to correcting the ills of a blighted area. If the CRA is to be left to the staff at City Hall, it may not fulfill the intent of the legislation or serve the business and property owners in the affected area. CRA’s were given significant powers and funding alternatives such as tax increment financing that make them more of a public/private partnership than a wholly governmental concern. In the final analysis though, the City Council still reviews and approves the budget for the CRA, so I frankly don’t know why the City Council would want to micromanage the CRA.
Finally, there have been missteps, but an evening of blamestorming only leaves a lot of ruffled feelings and we all wind up in exactly the same place except mad at each other. Each one of us can, in hindsight, see better directions. It should not have taken from 2002 until a few weeks ago to get the codes written and passed into law. Other cities have done it in months. We should have had a storm water plan in place, we still don’t. That discussion was also started in 2002. And we also need a traffic plan that takes into account the 11,000 planned dwellings now in the land use plan.
Thomas W. Hair
Councilmember, District One
City of Cape Coral, Florida
