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Politics

Downtown S.D. Blight Study Put On Hold

A study to see if areas of downtown San Diego can still be considered blighted will be delayed. The city council decided Tuesday to put off a vote on whether to fund the study for two months.

Downtown S.D. Blight Study Put On Hold
A study to see if areas of downtown San Diego can still be considered blighted will be delayed. The city council decided Tuesday to put off a vote on whether to fund the study for two months.

The study is the first step toward extending the life of the Center City Development Corporation, the city's downtown redevelopment arm. It's nearing the limit of how much tax revenue it can collect. CCDC will have to disband when it reaches that limit if the council doesn't raise it. Council President Ben Hueso says he wants to see downtown grow. But he's worried other areas of the city aren't getting the same attention.

"Ladies and gentleman, we're looking at rolling brownouts right now," he said. "This has never happened in our city's history. Yet we're asking that we apply money away from the general fun into a specific area to fund amenities."

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Supporters of CCDC say funding a blight study is the beginning of the process, not an endorsement of raising the cap. They say there are projects downtown that won't get finished if CCDC goes away.