That Crazy Darrell Steinberg Is At It Again

Yeah, he's a little nuts

Mod: California State Senator Darrell Steinberg, the father of SB 375 (you know, the state law he co-authored with notorious steroid abuser Arnold Schwarzenegger that claims building high density condo projects in places like downtown Sierra Madre will somehow save the world from global warming), has a new whopper in the works. Called SB-1, it would permit local governments the right to use your tax money to seize your property and turn it over to developers. And at a discount, no less. Just because somebody special happens to want it, I suppose. You can just imagine who here in Sierra Madre is going to just love this one. Here's the news on this madness in the making from the Los Angeles Times:

Bill advances creating new redevelopment in California (link): Denounced by one property owner as a “communist land grab,” a bill is advancing in the California Legislature that would allow local governments to spend tax money to seize land from residents and provide it at a discount to private developers.

Dubbed by some as the “son of redevelopment,” SB 1 would replace redevelopment project areas disbanded more than a year ago with new Sustainable Communities Investment Areas.

The establishment of the areas would allow local officials to use money from the growth in property tax revenue, bonded indebtedness and powers of eminent domain to take properties from some and give them to others for economic development. Unlike the old redevelopment areas, government officials would not have to show that an area is blighted to be targeted.

“There is a big void without redevelopment,” Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg told an Assembly committee Wednesday. The panel approved his bill, which he said “is good for jobs and its good for the environment.”

However, more than a dozen property rights activists testified against the bill before the Assembly Local Government Committee. The measure would have a “chilling effect on the rights of property owners,” and result in a “drastic loss” of farmland, said John Gamper, a lobbyist for the California Farm Bureau Federation.

After one woman called the measure  a “communist land grab,” Republicans also weighed in with opposition. Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore) said many residents don’t trust government to have the power to take private property. “That’s of huge concern for most people in California, that the government will abuse that authority,” she said.

Steinberg said he is willing to consider changes to win more support for his bill. “I do believe the use of eminent domain should be limited,” he told the panel before its 6-3 vote to approve the bill.

Mod: In case you are not aware, that nut Darrell Steinberg is also leading the charge to gut CEQA, the venerable decades old California environmental law. Knowing how Darrell likes to equate everything he does with saving the world, I suspect he'll tell you that destroying CEQA is "good for the environment" as well. He can be that shameless.

Here's more on SB-1 from CalWatchDog.com:

Will the Manhattan Dream replace the California Dream? (link): The Manhattan Dream is to live in a high-rise in a densely packed city. The California Dream is to live your own home, on your own lot so you can grill while your kids are playing in your yard.

Pushing people into high rises is the goal of Senate Bill 1, the Sustainable Communities Investment Authority bill by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Calif. Term limited out of office next year, it’s a key piece of the legacy he hopes to leave behind for California.

It follows Steinberg’s SB 375, the Preferred Growth Scenario bill, which then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law in 2008. Along with Schwarzenegger’s better-known AB 32, the California’s Global Warming Solution Act of 2006, SB 375 was a keystone in the Steinberg-Schwarzenegger blueprint for a green, “sustainable” California of high rises.

The Preferred Growth Scenario requires all transportation plans and funds in the state must pack an absolute minimum of 10 families into an acre land. SB 375 basically means the state of California, by law, officially is pushing people out of single-family homes and into high-rises.

“Welcome to the brave new world of central planning,” then state Sen. Tom McClintock said back in 2008. “The denser the better.”