After Faint Hope, Vista Prop. K Loses--Again

First they felt sadness and shock: A sophisticated, heartily funded campaign to persuade Vistans to endorse redevelopment as the best weapon against downtown blight had failed at the polls Tuesday, by just one vote.

Then, in a bizarre twist, elation infected the civic leaders and business owners backing Proposition K: Forty absentee ballots remained sealed and uncounted Wednesday morning. It wasn’t over yet.

In the end, however, the emotional seesaw tilted the wrong way for redevelopment boosters: Proposition K, the final tally showed, was three votes shy of passing. For the second time, Vista voters had rejected redevelopment as a tonic for the city’s urban ills.

“I’ve read about strange elections like this, but to experience it is really something else,” said a disheartened Milo Shadle, chairman of the Vista Committee for Redevelopment.

Shadle said proponents of Proposition K would ask for a recount once the final election results are certified sometime next week.

Elsewhere in North County, a proposition to raise the limit on taxable property for Rancho Santa Fe’s community service district passed easily, 1,081 to 137, according to a final count of mail ballots Wednesday.

The limit, which is subject to a vote every four years under state law, was increased from $190,000 to $300,000 for the district, which provides sewer service and road landscaping.

In Escondido, three seats on the Escondido Union School District board of trustees were filled from a field of eight candidates, none of whom was an incumbent.

The victors for the four-year terms were Sidney Hollins, a retired elementary school district superintendent who finished first in the polling with 20% of the vote; James Lund, an attorney who received 18% of the vote, and Barry Baker, a real estate agent who captured 16% of the vote.

While Vista’s pro-K troops were bemoaning what Shadle called “a golden opportunity lost,” those that rallied to defeat the measure celebrated.

“The proponents promised that redevelopment would deliver a wish list of wonderful projects painlessly, but the voters knew better,” said Councilman Lloyd von Haden, a feisty slow-growth advocate who coordinated the campaign against Proposition K.

Von Haden, who masterminded the 1975 effort to dismantle a redevelopment agency already in full swing in Vista, said Tuesday’s victory was particularly significant given the amount of money spent by the Committee for Redevelopment--$24,000. Von Haden’s group spent less than $1,000.

“Ten years ago we won (the election) by a 3-to-1 margin,” said Von Haden, who views redevelopment as an improper government “bail-out” of private businesses. “I think the only reason it was close this time is because they spent so much money. “

Shadle had a different assessment. He believes redevelopment would have passed were it not for the legal controversies surrounding the city’s mayor and a councilman. Mayor Mike Flick is facing a civil suit regarding his business affairs, and Councilman Ed Neal is on trial for alleged misuse of public funds.

“We had too much baggage to carry . . . ,” Shadle said. “When you’ve got two different (officials) with legal problems hitting the headlines every day, it hurts.”

Shadle said that, if a recount fails to reverse the fate of Proposition K, he and other redevelopment supporters would probably wait and see if council’s complexion changes after next year’s election before again attempting to place the issue on the ballot.

Meanwhile, City Manager Morris Vance said the defeat of Proposition K all but cripples Vista’s three-pronged urban revitalization program. In addition to pursuing redevelopment, the city has applied to the National Main Street Center in Washington, which helps cities promote and enhance their downtowns.

Vista also hopes to be named a state enterprise zone, a designation that would stimulate investment by providing tax credits, low-interest loans and other incentives to businesses that locate in the area.

The city is one of 20 finalists, including San Diego, for 10 spots in the enterprise zone program. Gov. George Deukmejian is expected to name the winning cities in February.

“When you take redevelopment out of that three-pronged program, you lose your financing tool,” Vance said.