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<6-14 - to CALIFORNIA REDEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION FILES AMICUS BRIEF IN CASE BEFORE U.S. SUPREME COURT The California Redevelopment Association reaffirm its prior case law holding that blight is (CRA) has filed a "friend of the court" brief in Kela v. determined on an area basis, not parcel by parcel. City of New London (Connecticut) a case before the United States Supreme Court. In the next few months, the Court will review the case and deter- mine whether "public use" includes the ability to condemn private, non-blighted property for eco- nomic development - a decision that may have far- reaching consequences for local governments and redevelopment agencies, including those in Califor- nia. The development project at issue in Kelo involves approximately 90 acres encompassing development of an upscale hotel and conference center, new residences, and upgrades to the state park and wastewater treatment plant. The city anticipates that the project will create over 1 ,000 jobs and significantly increase tax and other rev- enues for the city. The petitioners are seven prop- erty owners who own 15 homes in the development plan area. Challenging the city's right to take their property, they argue that this does not satisfy the public use requirement of the state and federal constitutions. In Kela, a divided Connecticut Supreme Court held that, under the Connecticut and United States Constitutions, eminent domain might be used to acquire private, non-blighted property for economic development purposes such as job creation and increasing municipal revenues. The petitioners urge the United States Supreme Court to overtum Kela. They argue that economic development by itself should never meet the public use requirement of the First Amendment. They further ask that if the court finds that economic development is a public use, the court require the agency to prove with a reasonable certainty that the project will in fact result in the anticipated benefits. While the case does not challenge the use of eminent domain to eliminate blight, a loosely worded opinion could affect redevelopment in California by making it more difficult to acquire non- blighted property in a redevelopment project area. For this reason, CRA is submitting an amicus curiae (or "friend of the court") brief in support of the City of New London urging the Supreme Court to find that economic development is a public use and It is anticipated that the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments of the Kela case in late February, and the case should be decided by summer of 2005. Brent Hawkins and Amber Hyman both of , McDonough, Holland & Allen have written an article on this case to appear in an upcoming issue of the Redevelopment Journal, which will be posted on the CRA Website, www.calredevelop.org. You can also find more infonnation about the case at the National League of Cities Website: www.nlc.org/ A NEW LOOK FOR PRIORITY FOCUS Just in the time for the new legislative session, Priority Focus this week is displaying a brand new look. "We wanted a stronger visual impact," said Megan Taylor, the League's Director of Communi- cations. "Our members are very busy people. The purpose of this weekly newsletter is to draw our members' attention to issues or concerns that impact most or all California cities. Our previous masthead just didn't convey the priority nature of these issues: Priority Focus is delivered weekly to more than 3,900 subscribers, an increase over the past 4 years of at about 50%. "In the past most people received the newsletter in a printed version, delivered through 'snailmail'" , said Taylor. "Moving to an electronic version has saved the League thousands of dollars in postage, and put the publication in our members' mailboxes much more quickly." Taylor added that these types of innovations are part of an ongoing effort on the part of the League to improve upon the delivery of important information to and from League members. PAGE 2/PRIORITV FOCUS Visit the League's Off"lCial Web Site--www.cacities.org