Redevelopment

Mace Siegel, a prominent owner of thoroughbred racehorses who was considered a godfather of Southern California horse racing for his role as an advocate for the sport, has died. He was 86. Siegel, who was also a leading developer of regional shopping centers, died Wednesday at his Beverly Hills home of complications related to old age, said his daughter, Samantha. "Mace was a pillar in our industry," George Haines, president of Santa Anita Park said in a statement. "His compassion for the horses, horseman and fans was second to none.

Aaron Epstein, a Hollywood businessman, got an offer recently that a lot of people in his situation would have leapt at. Hey, said City Hall, would you like a handout, Mr. Epstein? If so, we'll give you money — as much as $200,000 — to spruce up your building, inside and out. It's all part of a Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency program to brighten up Hollywood Boulevard, and Epstein is one of dozens of business owners eligible for cash loans. And the deal gets better.

Monday morning, when the school day begins across Greater Los Angeles, there will be some notable absences: Two hundred twenty-seven Los Angeles Unified library aides worked their last day Friday, when their positions were eliminated. Roughly an equal number of office assistants, who performed various clerical duties critical to the daily management of schools, also got the ax Friday. When the school bell rings tomorrow, everyone will pay a price. Principals will be further stressed, trying to make sure phones get answered and information gets disseminated.

A funny thing has happened to L.A.'s redevelopment agency in the wake of the state's yearly budget meltdown. After months of serving as the ripest of targets for budget-cutting state officials, the Community Redevelopment Agency turns out not to be so dead after all. That news became official Wednesday, when the City Council voted 13 to 0 in favor of an urgency ordinance that keeps its redevelopment agency alive and intact — by moving roughly...

A group representing Los Angeles and other cities asked the state Supreme Court on Monday to overturn action by Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature that will dissolve redevelopment agencies in California unless they pay the state $1.7 billion. The lawsuit filed by the League of California Cities and the California Redevelopment Assn. alleges that the state action, taken to close a budget shortfall, violated a constitutional amendment approved by voters in November that prohibits the state from raiding local tax revenue.

In his twilight years, Zhang Shan has simplified his daily schedule to the bare essentials: Wake up, eat breakfast, walk to Shuangxing Bathhouse and undress. The bathhouse, on the southern outskirts of the Chinese capital, is a remnant of a time long past when homes here lacked plumbing and all bathing was communal. The bathhouse was also a social gathering point where men flocked to sweat, talk politics and relax. But now, local authorities with an eye toward redevelopment appear intent on demolishing what is believed to be the last traditional public bathhouse in Beijing and the social culture that emanates from it. Zhang, 67, used to commute more than an hour by public bus to fulfill his daily ritual, but two years ago he moved within walking distance.

For months, California's redevelopment system, which provides tax incentives for the improvement of communities deemed "blighted," has been hanging by a thread. Gov. Jerry Brown is seeking to eliminate the state's community redevelopment agencies in order to use their money to balance the state budget. Advocates of the agencies, meanwhile, have scrambled to present alternatives and to answer those critics who say redevelopment is plagued by abuse. That debate still is playing out in the Capitol, but one welcome result has been the introduction of two bills intended to clean up some of the problems with the agencies if they survive their brush with extermination.

In Southern California, there's nothing like a very large piece of real estate to cause discord. And the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station is nothing if not a large piece of real estate. Ever since the military decided to unload the base in the 1990s, Orange County residents have been bickering over what to do with the land, and the decision in 2005 to turn it into the Great Park hasn't ended the conflict. But first the history. Even before the military moved out, county residents divided into two bitterly opposing camps: those who supported using the site for a commercial airport and those who envisioned it as a vast and impressive park.

Construction is set to begin this week on a long-expected movie theater complex in North Hollywood, the final piece of a $250-million development near the Metro Red Line station. Laemmle Theatres will build a seven-screen cineplex that will include second-floor office space and a restaurant at street level. The 34,000-square-foot building at 5240 Lankershim Blvd. is expected to be completed before the end of the year. The developer of the North Hollywood Redevelopment Program, J.H. Snyder Co., contributed land and parking for the theater as well as nearly $500,000 in development funding.

State Sen. Bob Huff, who is working aggressively to save California's redevelopment agencies, says Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to abolish them is legally dubious, would cost jobs and would eliminate one of the state's few tools for spurring economic development. What the Diamond Bar Republican doesn't include in his pitch is that his wife is a paid consultant for a large developer eager to keep the program intact. The developer, Ed Roski Jr., owner of Majestic Realty, has industrial and commercial properties across Southern California, many of them in redevelopment zones that have been spruced up with tax dollars.