Police union seeks to end Hollywood CRA
It’s not your typical “Beware of Dog” sign.
In Hollywood, the police union is posting signs on neighborhood lawns warning residents about the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency.
The cops say the CRA takes too much of a bite out of the city’s budget. To help spread the word, the police union paid for 100 signs. And Hollywood’s other two unions plan to pitch in for 100 more, says police union leader Jeff Marano.
The idea is to drive the people at City Hall nuts — and give residents a bit of a clue about where their tax money is going, Marano says.
For the uninformed, CRAs funnel tax money into blighted areas that would otherwise go to the city and county. Hollywood’s CRA has two districts: downtown and the beach. And some in Hollywood scoff at the notion that the cashrich beach district is
blighted.
But Jorge Camejo, head of the CRA, said: “There’s just so much misinformation out there and there’s so much emotion. The facts are the facts.”
And the facts, he said, are that the city is better off with his agency than without it.
If the unions get their wish, the CRA’s beach district would close up shop well before its 2027 expiration date. And that, Marano says, would free up millions to help cure Hollywood’s yearly budget gap.
In the meantime, Marano is pushing the issue like a bull dog. The police union has 50 more signs on order.
“There’s just so much misinformation out there and there’s so much emotion.”
Jorge Camejo, head of CRA