Great 2011 RDA Give-Away: "No bargaining" claim won't fool the people

83% of RDA funds will go to two "chosen ones" – That's $4 million!

From the Woodland Record:

The saying "You can fool all the people part of the time, and part of the people all the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time" has been attributed to Abraham Lincoln, P.T. Barnum and others. Let's just go with Abe on this one since he was shot in a theater.

Case in point: Tonight... the "Great 2011 RDA Give-Away" will cap a hastily concocted sweepstakes of fools gold that will be awarded by our city council (aka Redevelopment Agency, aka RDA, aka Representatives, aka Those Who Do the People's Business). Tonight... great shadows will be cast by a litany of bargains, blunders and braggadocios. Tonight... Woodlanders will witness a circus of spending intended to offset an alleged State of California confiscation of RDA funds, but will ultimately confirm a list of the city's favored projects.

On the June 21 agenda of the City of Woodland City Council meeting is "Item K: Redevelopment Agency Reports" that includes the revised "2012 RDA Budget" and "RDA Allocations" with their companion items "K-15 through K- 24." Therein lies the two big winners of the "Great 2011 RDA Give-Away" sweepstakes and eight other recipients. The Woodland Opera House (that has already received $574,873 in Measure E money for its expansion) will win $2 million for a children's program and Black Pine Holdings (owned by Jeff Morgan) will win $2 million for three restaurants - two of which are near the proposed Cinema West multiplex. That's 83% of the available $4.8 million of RDA funds. The remaining 17% of the available RDA money will be split amongst six projects in various amounts.

Read much more at WoodlandRecord.com.