Gov. Brown names panel to dismantle L.A. redevelopment agency

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The three people chosen Wednesday by Gov. Jerry Brown to dismantle Los Angeles' sprawling, half-century-old redevelopment agency are not strangers to the real estate business or city politics.

One is an attorney and City Hall lobbyist, another a consultant who once worked closely with the redevelopment agency, and the chair of the new panel led a firm that was Los Angeles' largest owner of upscale downtown office space.

The City Council jettisoned its redevelopment agency two weeks ago. The three-person panel is required by state law because L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the council opted not to step in and assume the risk of unwinding the agency's hundreds of millions of dollars in assets, complex land deals, employee obligations and development loans.

Brown led a successful push to abolish redevelopment agencies statewide to free up money for the state budget. About 400 such agencies will be closed, shifting billions in tax revenue to state, city and county agencies.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-la-redevelopment-20120202,0,2280043.story

[JDPriestly]

1. So the CRA is to be unwound by a committee of three, two of whom do not live in LA>

Seems not so good to me.

Among the appointees to L.A.'s panel is Timothy McOsker, who lives in San Pedro and was former Mayor James K. Hahn's chief of staff. McOsker is an attorney for the firm Mayer Brown and works on issues involving land use and entitlements. He is also a registered City Hall lobbyist and officer with the business-centric Central City Assn., which closely tracks downtown redevelopment activities.

Developer-investor Nelson Rising of La Cañada Flintridge, who was once chairman of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, was picked to chair the new authority. Until late 2010, he served as chief executive of MPG Office Trust, owner of downtown's US Bank Tower, the tallest building in the West, and other office buildings. Rising is the chairman of Rising Realty Partners.

Mee Semcken of San Marino, who was the City Council liaison for the city's Community Redevelopment Agency a decade ago, also was appointed. She is the president of Lee Consulting Group LLC.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-la-redevelopment-20120202,0,2280043.story

Why appoint someone who lives in La Canada and someone from San Marino? Why not appoint people from LA?

Nelson Rising has a good reputation, but still, he is not from LA.

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2. I see your point.

I would hazard a guess that it has something to do with finding people who are willing and have the neccessary expertise to run such an effort, it sounds quite messy, and specific, and I would assume paranoid butt-covering will rule the day until it is done.

[JDPriestly]

3. I see a more sinister motive.

Nelson Rising was a big developer in LA.

Mr. Nelson C. Rising is the Chief Executive Officer, Director, and President at Maguire Properties L.P. He is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Rising Realty Partners. Mr. Rising was the Chief Executive Officer, President, Director, and Member of Finance Committee at MPG Office Trust, Inc. since May 2008. He was the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, Director, and Member of Finance Committee at Catellus Development Corp. since 1994 until 2005. From 1994 to May 2000, Mr. Rising was the President at the firm. He was a Senior Partner at Maguire Thomas Partners. Mr. Rising was a Partner-in-charge of major projects in the Los Angeles area, including the Library Square development and Library Tower. He practiced law at O'Melveny & Myers prior to entering the real estate industry in 1972. Mr. Rising is a Director of Foley Timber & Land Company, The Irvine Company, and The TCW Group, Inc. He was the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Mr. Rising was the Chairman Emeritus at the Real Estate Roundtable. He was a Trustee and Member of Investment Committee of ProLogis from September 2005 to May 9, 2008. Mr. Rising was a Member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts. He was the Chairman of the Bay Area Council. Mr. Rising received a Juris Doctor with honors from UCLA School of Law in 1967, where he was a Managing Editor of the University of California-Los Angeles Law Review. Mr. Rising received a B.A. with honors in Economics from University of California-Los Angeles in 1963.

nvesting.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=259344&ticker=MPG:US

He is a nice guy and well liked in LA, but he represents the developers' point of view. This is about handing out what is left, I suspect. I have no basis for my opinion. It is just my intuition about what is likely going on.

Hopefully, I will be pleasantly surprised.

Nelson Rising has a pretty good heart from what I know about him. (I don't personally know him, but have known people who did.)

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4. I don't know him from Adam.

As long as they clean up the CRA and it stays gone, I'll be happy. I suppose you are concered about self-dealing and sweetheart deals, and rightly so, but I would expect that in the present economic situation the Edit: state city is going to want all the money it can get, so I would not expect anything too egregious. But certainly vigilance is always a good idea where there is money to be had.