Proposition 13, also known as the Jarvis-Gann Initiative, froze the official taxable value of property statewide. Rotkin says that before Jarvis-Gann, property taxes accounted for half the city's tax revenue. Now they contribute only a quarter. Of course, if it hadn't been for Proposition 13, the earthquake wouldn't have been so devastating. Before the temblor, Rotkin says, the city's process of approving building projects moved at a glacial pace and only allowed about one in three developments to proceed.
Cities needs sales-tax revenue to survive.
He has consistently been with the majority of the city council as its proponent. The shopping mall's architectural heritage may best be termed faux industrial, an avowed attempt to harmonize with the nearby Sash Mill and Salz Tannery. The only councilmember consistently opposed to the project was Celia Scott, who says she first heard of it in 1994. Like others, she agrees the area was ripe for commercial development, but opposed the scale, design and layout of Gateway Plaza. She says that in its haste to gain deBenedetti's business, the City Council did not follow guidelines for project approval.