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If the LRC is in charge of urban renewal monies, what do we do if we don’t like what it’s doing? |
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In a word: Wait. For up to 25 years. That’s how long the Louisville Revitalization Commission proposes that it will control the urban renewal area it has proposed.
The Louisville Revitalization Commission was created by the City Council. But, ironically, after the LRC was created, the City Council has little direct control over it—unless the LRC decides to give the Council some of its extraordinary powers.
And even then, as the City Attorney said at the October 3, 2006, City Council meeting, the LRC by state law is prohibited from giving the City Council its core powers. This prohibition actually makes some sense: state law gives cities a choice—either the City Council can make itself the urban renewal authority, or it can create a separate public body that is the urban renewal authority; the Louisville City Council chose a separate, unelected public body; having done so, it cannot then take away the core powers from the separate urban renewal area it chose to create.
The law makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is why the City Council would want to hand over to the LRC the powers and duties we entrusted to the Council—including safeguarding and directly controlling the expenditure of up to $77 million of taxpayer money.
The one area the City Council has some very limited control is turnover in the LRC. After their initial staggered terms, each LRC member has a 5-year term. The mayor with the consent of Council appoints members to the LRC; so the LRC membership is controlled by the City Council.
But that limited control
doesn’t help much. Each year, only
one LRC member’s term
expires. It has been the history of this City that board and commission
members who request it are routinely reappointed (see, for example, the
reappointment of LRC member Michael
Reis on 2005). Even if that weren’t true, a majority on the LRC is four.
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