Wieder Takes Slow-Growth Backers to Task

Harriett M. Wieder, the new chairman of the Board of Supervisors, gave a 20-minute inaugural address Tuesday and used the opportunity to join a growing list of county officials who have taken a dim view of the slow-growth initiative.

“I acknowledge that there is a lack of confidence on the part of the public in the political and business leadership in Orange County,” Wieder said, but “government by initiative . . . can be dangerous.”

Wieder said overcrowding and traffic congestion are side effects of desirable trends such as increased employment, recreational opportunities and cultural events.

To deal with those side effects, she said, “communities are coalescing for the purpose of taking policy-making into their own hands. They hope to rectify problems they perceive we are helpless--or unwilling--to solve.

“This trend is most apparent in the countywide effort to restrict growth through the initiative process. In fact, this is not an Orange County phenomenon, but a regionwide, statewide and even nationwide issue.”

Wieder went on to say that government by initiative “is often a counterproductive process of misleading slogans and emotional, ill-conceived responses to very complex problems. Indeed, the so-called ‘solutions’ can often be worse than the problems. . . .

“Representative government is more efficient and effective than seeking decrees through ballot measures.”

Backers of the proposed slow-growth initiative--which would tie development to specific standards on traffic, public safety services and the availability of parks and other public facilities--are now trying to collect the nearly 66,000 signatures needed to get the measure on the ballot.

A countywide initiative would cover only unincorporated areas of the county, where the supervisors rule. Initiative proponents also are trying to get similar initiatives on the ballots in individual cities in the county.

Wieder, who became board chairman last week, used the 20-minute speech at Tuesday’s meeting of the supervisors to outline her goals for 1988. She said transportation improvements will be a top priority.

She said she was not ready to support an increase in the sales tax that would be earmarked for transportation but said that she would ask her fellow supervisors next week to start examining the need for such a tax, which would require voter approval.

Chairmanship of the Board of Supervisors, a largely ceremonial position, rotates annually. Wieder was chairman in 1984.

First elected supervisor in 1978 and reelected twice, Wieder said she plans to run for the Republican nomination for Congress to succeed Rep. Daniel E. Lungren (R-Long Beach) if he wins legislative confirmation as state treasurer.

Wieder said her other goals include getting funding to build new jails in the county and working to provide additional help for abused and neglected children.