Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. Cities would have until April 15 to dismantle their redevelopment agencies under a bill introduced by state Senator Alex Padilla, a Southern California lawmaker, the LA Daily News reports (via Rough & Tumble). Cities, including Oakland, have been scrambling to meet the February 1 deadline to eliminate redevelopment. Oakland is sending out 1,500 layoff notices this week and plans to ultimately slash 200 jobs. Padilla said cities need more time, and he’s hoping that the extension until April 15 will give the legislature a chance to hammer out a way to resurrect redevelopment in some form. However, it remains unclear whether Governor Jerry Brown, who devised the plan to kill redevelopment, will go along with the extension.