Backers of Civic Center Claim Victory in Escondido

Voters here came down on the side of the cultural arts Tuesday, deciding to authorize the construction of a $52-million civic center and performing arts complex downtown.

The project, pitched as a cornerstone to downtown redevelopment and a focal point of civic pride, was favored by 53.6% of the voters, with 33 of the city’s 34 precincts reporting late Tuesday night.

The measure was the only one on the ballot.

“This is Day One for the renaissance of Escondido,” said Mayor Ernie Cowan.

Alan Skuba, a former mayor who headed the campaign in support of the measure, called the victory “cause for great delight.”

“We’re at the threshold of really blossoming, of becoming a real regional hub for culture, business and commerce. I couldn’t be more pleased,” Skuba said. The passage of Proposition A “is a reflection that there is a genuine, deep-rooted citizen concern for the welfare of downtown.”

The approval of the measure, Proposition A, came in the face of limited but vocal opposition to it on the grounds that the undertaking would backfire financially and become a drain on the city treasury.

But proponents argued that because of a financing scheme possible under state redevelopment laws, the project can be built without costing taxpayers a single dime and, in fact, be a financial windfall for the city in years to come.

Officials expect to select an architect this year; the project is expected to be completed by 1991--the city’s 100th birthday.

Proposition A called for construction of a 2,500-seat auditorium for symphonies, operas, musicals, Broadway shows, lectures and religious meetings; a separate 500-seat community theater for locally produced productions; a 25,000-square-foot fine arts museum for traveling art exhibits and the display of local art and historic memorabilia; a 25,000-square-foot banquet and meeting room for public and private conventions, receptions and banquets for up to 800 people; the new City Hall, and extra office buildings for county, state and federal government use.

The campaign on behalf of Proposition A stressed that the entire complex could be paid for through tax-increment financing, a redevelopment mechanism by which property tax revenue within the redevelopment area would be reserved for the redevelopment agency. The redevelopment agency would then sell bonds to raise the capital necessary to pay for the project, and pay off those bonds with the tax increment revenue.

That financing scheme was, both sides on Proposition A agreed, the most perplexing issue for voters to understand.

The county supported Proposition A because the city agreed to build new office space for the county in return for the county giving up some of its property tax revenue. The local school districts also blessed Proposition A because of the promise by the city that it would share some of the financial windfall of redevelopment to pay for new public schools in the area.

The city’s downtown area stood to gain by the project, supporters said, because it would attract newer and better commercial and professional development in the area, reversing a trend toward blight brought on by the construction of the North County Fair shopping center at Kit Carson Park on the south side of the city.

With those downtown improvements, the redevelopment agency could afford to widen downtown streets, install attractive pedestrian amenities and provide more parking lots, officials said.

But former Mayor Ron Bittner, the most vocal opponent of Proposition A, contended that even if the city could afford to build the cultural arts center, it could not afford to maintain it year after year and that, sooner or later, it would drain city coffers of money better used for police and fire services and better roads.

Bittner headed Citizens Against Redevelopment in Escondido, which raised about $2,000 for a modest campaign against proposition A.

“Our committee gave its donors an absolutely classy campaign for the amount of money that was donated,” Bittner said Tuesday. “It was adequate to do what we wished. We got our message across very effectively to the public. We weren’t playing on anyone’s fears; we were playing on reality. We were showing the consequences of the project, the negatives which the city wasn’t bothering to tell anyone.”

Rancho Santa Fe resident Martin Wilson, a former Escondido resident and major downtown property owner who is philosophically opposed to redevelopment as government intrusion into the free market place, personally spent $30,000 to pay for three anti-Proposition A mailers to city residents.

Supporters of the measure, on the other hand, spent about $55,000 in their campaign.

“It was a very complex issue--probably the most difficult issue I’ve ever had to get across to the public,” said Martha McMakin, who directed the pro Proposition A force, Citizens for a Better Escondido.