County agencies to lose $137 million

State taking funds from redevelopment groups

By Helen Gao and Jeanette Steele
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
2:00 a.m. August 16, 2009

Poway's 28-acre central park and Solana Beach's 3.79-acre La Colonia Park and Community Center might have to wait for planned makeovers.

Imperial Beach and El Cajon residents may have to live with more potholes, and small businesses in downtown Oceanside won't get grants to spruce up their stores.

To solve its cash crisis this year, Sacramento is taking $1.7 billion from the budgets of 397 local redevelopment agencies across California, including $137 million from San Diego County.

That money, from 17 local agencies, would otherwise be spent to fix streets, install new backstops at Little League fields and generally help older and more downtrodden neighborhoods.

A statewide money grab of $350 million is scheduled for the next fiscal year, with a county loss estimated at $28 million.

Redevelopment officials say the cuts will be devastating, as Sacramento's take-away amounts to about a third of their funding this year.

“There isn't an agency that isn't going to feel a moderate-to-severe impact,â€