O’Connor Vows to Keep Backing Proposition A

San Diego mayoral candidate Maureen F. O’Connor pledged Thursday to “uphold the spirit of Proposition A” even if the growth-management initiative approved by local voters last fall is challenged and ultimately struck down in the courts.

At a news conference in Ocean Beach, the former city councilwoman also said that she intends to commission a poll of local voters aimed at setting a voluntary spending limit for the special Feb. 25 mayoral primary to select a successor to Roger Hedgecock. O’Connor, whose earlier call for establishment of a spending ceiling was turned down by Common Cause, added that she would abide by the poll’s recommended limit even if her major opponents would not do so.

O’Connor, who remained neutral during last fall’s Proposition A campaign, said that, if elected, she would “do my utmost to fully implement” the terms of the initiative, which requires public approval of any new development in the city’s “urban reserve,” a 25,000-acre region, mostly in north San Diego, set aside for development after 1995.

Even if the growth-management measure were to be struck down on constitutional grounds, O’Connor added, she would “work to implement its intent” through city ordinances and council policies.

Saying that Proposition A addresses only growth in undeveloped regions, O’Connor also promised to work to better control growth in urbanized areas.