Making bad neighborhoods good takes money and time.
Community redevelopment agencies are one way local governments can ensure that struggling areas continue to receive the resources they needed, even through city council turnover and policy changes.
Or so went the thinking of state lawmakers when, nearly 50 years ago, they put in place a program that gives local elected officials unusual discretion over some tax dollars: Typically, property taxes are deposited in a municipality’s general fund and can be used for a variety of projects citywide. But with a community redevelopment agency, tax money generated by rising property values goes into a fund that can be used only for public improvements in that community redevelopment area.