S.D. Voters Seen Loosening Their Grip on Purse Strings

By ARMANDO ACUNA

Nov. 5, 1987 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

If there were any messages emanating Wednesday from the many propositions on the San Diego ballot, it would appear that voters are more concerned than ever about their environment and quality of life, the need to harness runaway growth and--perhaps most important--are now willing to remove the shackles on local government spending.

“I think the vote indicates that the tax revolution is over,” said former mayor and current radio talk show host Roger Hedgecock, analyzing Tuesday’s votes on issues ranging from Proposition A to Proposition J.

“It looks like people are willing to pay more to government to solve problems . . . a majority of people are now coming around to see that they are going to have to pay more for better parks and transportation system,” he said. “Quality of life seems (to be) No. 1.”

Perhaps most surprising to many observers was the approval--albeit by only 510 votes out of more than 164,000 cast--of Proposition E, the measure that will allow the city for the next four years to exceed the spending limit imposed eight years ago by the so-called Gann Initiative, an offspring of Proposition 13, the 1978 initiative that gave birth to California’s, and later the nation’s, taxpayer rebellion.

Signal of Change

“A couple of years ago, the idea of lifting the limit would have been soundly defeated,” noted Hedgecock, who, like many local officials throughout the state at the time, opposed Proposition 13.

Councilman Ed Struiksma said the approval of Proposition E was even more astounding considering it didn’t encompass the kind of specific, highly detailed spending plan that was at the heart of Proposition A, the measure that will raise sales taxes to fund a countywide, multibillion-dollar transportation improvement package.

Voters approved Proposition E, noted Struiksma, despite the lack of a campaign or publicity about an impending budget disaster at City Hall.

Councilman Bill Cleator said the closeness of the vote should tell the City Council that “half the people are concerned with the council fooling with the budget.”

“Half the people are saying, ‘Hey, buddy, we don’t want to give you any more money,’ ” Cleator said.

Assistant City Manager John Fowler--whose boss, City Manager John Lockwood, proposed Proposition E--took more of a middle ground, saying he didn’t sense a change in the mood of voters or a wholesale retreat from the taxpayer rebellion. If there is any legacy from the Proposition 13 days of the late 1970s, he said, it’s that the public wants to play a more dominant role in how local government spends money.

“What we have, in effect with Proposition E, is the public following along with that . . . saying (to City Hall) ‘We’ll let you have more control’ ” over the budget, Fowler said.

Although the two proposals to pay for improvements at Balboa Park and Mission Bay Park failed to receive the two-thirds majority required for passage, both Propositions B and C received strong support from the electorate. Proposition B, which would have raised $93 million, received 59% of the vote, and Proposition C, which would have raised $73 million, did even better, receiving 61%.

Clear Message

Coupled with propositions to limit development in La Jolla Valley and commercialization around Mission Bay and at beachfront Belmont Park--where a complex of restaurants and stores is under construction--the message that came through loud and clear, according to officials, was that San Diegans want more parkland, and a strong majority are willing to pay to make it happen.

“We didn’t get the avalanche,” said Mayor Maureen O’Connor. “We got almost 62%. We needed 66%. It’s impossible these days to get 66% for anything. . . . I think we have a definite moral victory, now we have to figure out financially how we’re going to implement those programs.”

The mayor said she will ask Lockwood how to improve the parks now with city money.

Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer said she will propose that the City Council go back and study the alternative of creating a citywide assessment district to fund improvements at Balboa and Mission Bay parks. Such an assessment district would require approval from only half of the voters.

Fowler, the assistant city manager, said formation of an assessment district is one of several options the city will now explore. “The voters are clearly saying parks are an enhancement they want . . . and it’s our responsibility to fashion programs to accomplish that,” he said.

The propositions to stop or limit growth around Mission Bay, Belmont Park and La Jolla Valley received the strongest margins of approval, indicating that growth--whether in highly urbanized areas such as Mission Beach or rural locations such as La Jolla Valley--continues to be greeted with great hostility.

Proposition G, which was targeted at the controversial commercial project at Belmont Park--though it was too late to stop the complex--passed with 66% of the vote; Proposition J, which sought to gain approval for development in La Jolla Valley, was trounced by 76% of the voters, and Proposition D, a measure requiring a public vote for any development around Mission Bay once overall development reaches 25% of the land area, was approved by a resounding 79%.

“We think it sent a clear message to the city and it should never have happened. It never should have gone through,” Carol Havlat, a member of the Save Mission Beach Committee, said about Proposition G.

‘Return the Parkland’

“I think it means, too, that people in San Diego who live inland would like to be able to get to their beaches instead of being locked out by traffic and overbuilding,” Havlat said. “We’ll now call on the city to return the parkland” that is now being developed at Belmont Park, where the Plunge Building was demolished to make way for the new complex.

The mayor said the lopsided approval for Proposition G showed that “the council and the city attorney continued to misread the intent of the people” when they allowed demolition of the Plunge before the public vote. O’Connor said she will ask the city attorney to re-examine his position that the project can’t be stopped now because the developers have a vested interest.

“We’re not interested in listening to the words moot or vesting ,” Havlat said.

Also approved by a strong margin of 56% was Proposition H, the so-called Clean Air Initiative that grew out of public opposition to the SANDER trash-to-energy incinerator proposed for the Miramar landfill. The firm that wanted to build the plant withdrew in August, though Proposition H went forward.

The restrictive measure bans any plant burning more than 500 tons of trash per day and prohibits construction of a trash-burning facility within a three-mile radius of a hospital, elementary school, nursing home or child care center.

John Minan, co-author of the initiative and a law professor at the University of San Diego, predicted that the proposition will not only have local ramifications but also national ones as well.

“This portends difficulty for this major industry that is popping up in various places throughout the United States,” Minan said. “This is not just a local issue . . . this will have a significant and profound effect nationally.”

The measure, according to Minan, was being watched by others throughout the country, and he said it will be interpreted as a significant setback for those promoting trash-to-energy technology, an industry Minan says has been projected to grow to $30 billion to $40 billion by the year 2000.

“My own view is it has serious problems . . . and health concerns (as embodied in Proposition H) are one part of that,” he said. “This will send financial ripples felt throughout the industry.”

As for how San Diego will dispose of its ever-mounting waste, Minan said that “first and foremost” passage of the proposition serves as an “invitation to our decision makers to search out . . . experts who will find solutions that are politically acceptable.”

Whatever plan is arrived at--whether it includes components of recycling and compaction and other technologies--must in the end, Minan said, “sink into the taproots of . . . the city manager’s office,” which was a strong supporter of the SANDER project.

Times staff writer Ralph Frammolino contributed to this story.

Election Results Countywide 1,782 of 1,782 Precincts Reporting

Prop. A: Half-cent sales tax increase for transportation.

Votes % Yes 175,590 53.1 No 154,816 46.8

San Diego 868 of 868 Precincts Reporting

Prop. B: $93.5 million in bonds for Balboa and Mission Bay parks.

Votes % Yes 106,563 58.9 No 74,209 41.0

Prop. C: $73.9 million in bonds for Balboa and Mission Bay parks.

Votes % Yes 109,797 61.3 No 69,452 38.7

Prop. D: Mission Bay Park--limit on leases without voter approval.

Votes % Yes 135,633 79.8 No 34,315 20.2

Prop. E: Lifts the Gann spending limit through June 30, 1991.