Vetoes Dash Hopes for Campus, Open Space : Mission College and Hopetown are losers in cuts by the governor.

Mission College and a project to preserve Hopetown, a historic part of Simi Valley, were among the losers Wednesday when Gov. George Deukmejian announced his 1986-1987 budget vetoes.

Deukmejian vetoed $8.9 million earmarked for construction of a permanent campus for San Fernando-based Mission College, which has operated out of makeshift classrooms since it was created 10 years ago.

The governor also withheld $1 million in funds intended as seed money to preserve Hopetown, a one-time movie ranch where Hollywood’s cowboys and Indians used to fight amid the sandstone bluffs and chaparral-dotted hills.

The cut was a cruel blow to Mission College administrators, who had thought they had their best chance this year of getting a home for the school, which is part of the Los Angeles Community College District.

Rally Scheduled

College supporters announced that they will hold a rally Friday in hope of prompting the governor to reconsider the cut.

Hopetown is the last sizable stretch of open space left in Simi Valley. That Ventura County city and the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District want to buy and preserve its 172 acres of rugged terrain for public use.

Griffin Homes, a Calabasas developer, has an option to buy Hopetown from the property’s namesake, entertainer Bob Hope.

The developer has already won approval to build homes on 40 acres, but development plans for the remaining acreage have been stalled for several reasons, including an attempt by the Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy to obtain money to buy the land.

One Victory

The conservancy, created by the state to help public agencies buy undeveloped land in the Santa Monica Mountains, did get funding Wednesday for its No. 1 priority.

The governor approved $5.8 million to buy the 1,690-acre Circle X Ranch south of Thousand Oaks from the Los Angeles Area Council of Boy Scouts of America. It would be used as a public campground.

The governor said he vetoed the Hopetown appropriation because the purchase money was contingent on the outcome of a bond measure the Legislature is expected to place on the November ballot.

If voters approve the bond issue, Deukmejian said, the Legislature should resubmit the project for review.

But Assemblyman Gray Davis (D-Los Angeles) said he hopes to persuade the governor to restore the conservancy cuts to buy property in Simi Valley and elsewhere along the rim of the Santa Monica Mountains.

“It’s a very tight year. I understand that, but I’m hopeful,” Davis said. The Administration “always makes this a difficult fight, but in the end they come through,” he said.

Mike Sedell, deputy city manager of Simi Valley, said its City Council will pursue other means--including seeking federal money--of obtaining the property.

“We’re disappointed,” Sedell said. “It is a significant setback; however, we do not view the project as dead by any means.”

Sedell said he believes Griffin Homes will give the city and the conservancy more time to obtain funds for the purchase before it tries to develop the entire tract.

Equally disappointed on Wednesday was Mission College President Lowell Erickson, who contends that a permanent campus is desperately needed.

In his veto message on the Mission College budget cut, the governor said, “I am eliminating this project because the Los Angeles Community College District is experiencing declining enrollment, and a major capital expansion may not be a prudent course of action at this time. Recent local developments further suggest that the district may, in fact, need to dispose of the Mission College site.”

Although enrollment districtwide is declining, Erickson said, Mission College’s enrollment increased 13% during the past year, to 3,600, and student credit hours jumped 26%, he added.

Now, Mission College’s classrooms are spread over five miles. Students attend classes in such places as Granada Hills High School, a park in Sylmar and leased storefronts.

All other capital improvements slated for junior colleges throughout the state survived the governor’s cuts.

“We don’t understand why our college was picked on,” Erickson said.

He said the college’s protest rally has been scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday at the Kalisher Building at 1300 San Fernando Road.

Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda) was highly critical of the governor. Katz, who was instrumental in getting the money for Mission College inserted into the budget that the Legislature presented to the governor earlier this month, said, “Either the governor just doesn’t understand the facts, or it’s petty partisan politics.

“There is absolutely no logical reason for what he did. In my mind, it’s a real slap in the face to everybody in the northeast Valley.”

California State University, Northridge fared better than Mission College. The governor did not veto a $12.5-million appropriation for the construction of a science building and $736,000 for the expansion of the library.

Also spared the budget ax was $55,000 earmarked for a proposed Department of Motor Vehicles office in North Hollywood.