The Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco is one of many projects in the city driven by the redevelopment agency. Courtesy photo.

Cities around the state are scrambling to protect their redevelopment money before Gov. Jerry Brown takes it away, as he has promised to do. In dramatic fashion, the city of San Jose called a last-minute meeting yesterday to figure out ways to tie redevelopment money to projects so it doesn't get taken away, the Merc reports: 

Wednesday's meeting -- an extraordinarily rare gathering on just 24 hours' notice -- calls for San Jose to "protect and secure existing obligations" and start buying and building projects that are part of the city's capital improvement and affordable housing plans.

Redevelopment agencies are able to sell bonds to fund improvements in blighted areas, often to lure developers to build and then pay the bonds off using the taxes from those areas. Brown wants those property taxes to go to education and other basic services. 

All around the state, cities are doing the same as San Jose. In another emergency meeting Monday, Freemont officials approved the issue of $140 million worth of redevelopment bonds that it hopes to use for building a new BART station. Los Angeles and other cities in Southern California are making similar moves.