Straight into Compton: house prices soar as murderous gangs reach truce

[Jesus Malverde]

It is quarter of a century since Straight Outta Compton, the seminal gangsta rap album, made a ten square-mile area of Los Angeles synonymous with gang violence and murder.

A lot has changed in Compton since then and, sitting in her office at City Hall, Mayor Aja Brown sees good times ahead.

At the heart of her optimism is a truce between the Bloods and Crips, the two infamous gangs associated with the place, which has contributed to a dramatic fall in violent crime.

Earlier this year Mrs Brown, who at 32 is one of America's youngest mayors, began reaching out to Compton gang leaders through former members. She ended up meeting in a community centre with 50 leaders from dozens of local gangs.

She points to the evolutionary example of Dr Dre, who produced Straight Outta Compton. He is now a billionaire businessman - sometimes called "Compton's first billionaire". Earlier this year he sold his company Beats Electronics, which makes 'Beats by Dre' headphones, to Apple for $3 billion. Mrs Brown has offered him a key to the city of Compton.

"I think Dr Dre really evolved and really is a great role model for young people that have had to survive and thrive against all odds," she said. "He was able to turn his life around and create an empire and become a successful family person.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11313948/Straight-into-Compton-house-prices-soar-as-murderous-gangs-reach-truce.html

[cilla4progress]

1. Wonderful story.

Plan to read it all. Kudos to Madame Mayor. I hope this gets nationwide coverage.

[Jesus Malverde]

3. She sounds pretty awesome.

We need a new generation of leaders. For too long all the positions of power have been dominated by baby boomers - the reagan generation.

[JDPriestly]

2. K&R for the future of Compton.

Good news.

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. yes!

[madville]

4. Where are the current residents going to move to

When they get priced out of their neighborhoods? It's kind of a double-edged sword: improve conditions, crime declines, property values skyrocket, property taxes multiply, developers sink their teeth in. A $75,000 property there today could be $300,000 in a few years.

[cilla4progress]

5. Hopefully there will be grandfathering

for existing property owners.

Everything is a double-edged sword, but it's hard to argue with "a dramatic fall in violent crime."

[jeff47]

6. Property taxes are grandfathered.

Thanks to Prop 13, CA can't raise property taxes until the property is sold.

(FYI, Prop 13 is why CA no longer has free public universities, the country's most overcrowded prison system, crumbling infrastructure, and very high sales and income taxes. Turns out there's a lot of ways to not actually sell your mansion, so it's still taxed on its value from the 1970s/1980s.)

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

8. You can't use property taxes as a bottomless piggy bank

Especially in California where a modest family or business can become paper millionaires in the wake of a bubble and yet derive no benefit from that. It is especially brutal on the business side of the equation where ruinous property taxes are a great way to see employment centers that employ hundreds replaced with condos that employ virtually nobody.

Without Prop 13 there is no way I could have kept my home through the last bubble.

[jeff47]

10. There's plenty of sob stories to cover the small change.

such as your case. That's how crap like prop 13 gets passed.

What I'm talking about is the houses now worth $30M being taxed as if they are worth $100k.

Eliminate that, and suddenly the "bottomless piggy bank" story doesn't actually happen.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

15. Then propose a "Tax the shit out of Justin Bieber's house" ballot proposition

The externalities of taxing people and businesses on the value of property, something they may very well derive zero benefit from and be completely asinine in the first place are enormous.

I don't think Mary Carlisle's house is blowing much of a hole in the L.A. County budget.

[jeff47]

16. Yes, externalities like free public universities.

Oh the horror.

So, what's your no-externalities tax?

Anyway, let's take a look at your dire predictions. Were businesses being completely wiped out in 1977? Nope. But some rich folks were upset that their property taxes were going way up. And they found some retirees who claimed to be about to lose their house to market their anti-tax revolution.

And the result has been pretty shitty for anyone who isn't in living in a mansion that's massively appreciated. Because those businesses and not-wealthy are paying a hell of a lot more in income taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes, fees and reduction in services to make up for the lost revenue. And since those are far less stable sources of income, CA gets to go through a financial crisis every recession.

something they may very well derive zero benefit from

Yeah, if only there was some financial instrument that could be used to tap into the additional wealth created by the house. We could even give it a favored tax status.

I don't think Mary Carlisle's house is blowing much of a hole in the L.A. County budget.

You vastly underestimate the number of now very expensive houses in LA County.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

17. I think income taxes are just peachy

There is no nuance to it, if you're earning hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars per year that is money in your pocket. While the value of your property in a bubble is very likely purely theoretical. Further more if you're earning it in California there probably aren't a whole lot of other places with a significantly better tax situation to go to.

Yeah, if only there was some financial instrument that could be used to tap into the additional wealth created by the house. We could even give it a favored tax status.

I used to work on bankruptcies, let me tell you how well "tapping into the additional wealth" tends to work out for people.

The issue for businesses and property taxes is painfully simple. High urban property taxes will encourage employment to relocate to some random spot along the interstate. What replaces it is usually residential development which employs virtually nobody. That was the origin of many urban slums across America as employers were taxed out of their urban facilities and left behind their traditional employees.

You vastly underestimate the number of now very expensive houses in LA County.

Yeah, I don't think you're going to fund the UC system or Airport Metro Connector by reassessing geriatric movie star's houses.

[Retrograde]

11. Property taxes in CA can be raised 2% per year

and I assure you that's what mine have done ever since I bought this house. Then there's the additional parcel taxes that voters in my city approved to pay for schools.

And as another poster pointed out, without Prop. 13 a lot of seniors - like me - couldn't afford to keep our homes.

[jeff47]

12. Nope, it's capped at 1%.

Here's the exciting reading on the subject: http://www.lao.ca.gov/reports/2012/tax/property-tax-primer-112912.aspx

And as another poster pointed out, without Prop. 13 a lot of seniors - like me - couldn't afford to keep our homes.

And without Prop 13, a lot of wealthy people would have to pay based on the actual value of their property. Instead of its value in 1979 + 1% over the 35 years since then. ($100k becomes a whopping $141k, instead of the $30M the house is now worth)

[Retrograde]

13. From the document you cite

"Although there are some exceptions, a property’s assessed value typically is equal to its purchase price adjusted upward each year by 2 percent." And my county makes sure it keeps its assessments up to date: my tax bills go up yearly.

[jeff47]

14. The county can add up to 1%. The state is capped at 1%.

There's more than one property tax on your bill.

But you have to be impressed with the marketing on this. We have to protect seniors, so billionaires get a huge tax break.

[Warren DeMontague]

19. You can complain about Prop. 13 all you want, I can tell you from a realism perspective, it's not

going anywhere.

That is a simple fact with regards to California.

[Dems2002]

7. Love her

I wonder where the mayor wants to end up because she's going places along with Oakland's newest mayor.

In the late 40//early 50s, my grandfather built his house in Compton. It's still there. While he built it, his family (my grandparents, my father and his three sisters) lived in a tent in the backyard of my great-uncle's house which was next door.

I've always kind of wanted to own this house. I live in northern california now, but it would be cool to have it in the family again. Unfortunately, my grandfather did manual labor and was electrocuted on a hay bailer in the 50s and while he lived, he was permanently disabled and fell on hard times.

[BumRushDaShow]

18. Kudos to the mayor

I recall reading an article about her after she was first elected and she herself, is a role model for those interested in going into elected public service, most particularly, in challenging locales.

A host of previously "abandoned" urban areas are slowly climbing out of the abyss and this is the time to seize the moment and get the current community involved at the outset and in on the ground floor before others come in to take it away.