LOS ANGELES CITY AND COUNTY MEASURES ON TUESDAY’S BALLOT

MEASURE

County Proposition J Jail Bonds

WHAT IT WOULD DO

Authorize Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to issue up to $197.5 million in general obligation bonds to fund new adult jails and juvenile detention facilities. Would be paid for from increased property taxes. Requires two-thirds yes vote for passage.

ARGUMENTS FOR Creates funds for much needed system expansion. Jails can’t hold all the prisoners county is required to house, forcing release of some prisoners because of a federal court order against overcrowding. Cost to taxpayers is minimal.

Supporters: Sheriff Sherman Block; Board of Supervisors Chairman Deane Dana; Supervisors Mike Antonovich, Ed Edelman, Kenneth Hahn.

ARGUMENTS AGAINST County should put to work the $96 million in bond money passed in 1986 before embarking on another jail expansion program. Places unnecessary drain on property owners.

Opponents: Supervisor Pete Schabarum.

MEASURE

City Proposition L Library Bonds

WHAT IT WOULD DO

Authorize $900 million in bonds for acquisition, construction and library rehabilitation, including $36 million for the renovation and expansion of downtown Central Library.

ARGUMENTS FOR

Los Angeles has outgrown its outdated library system. Many areas lack facilities. Fires at the Central Library and earthquake damage increase the need for help. Entire city benefits from improved libraries.

Supporters: Mayor Tom Bradley, 14 members of the City Council, School Board President Roberta Weintraub; Supervisor Kenneth Hahn; Assemblymen Richard Katz and Richard Polanco; authors Ray Bradbury and Irving Wallace.

ARGUMENTS AGAINST Questions remain about the possibility of a sale-leaseback financial deal involving the Central Library to investors as a tax shelter.

Opponents: Councilman Nate Holden

MEASURE

City Proposition M Sewage Bonds

WHAT IT WOULD DO

Authorize the City of Los Angeles to issue up to $1.5 billion in revenue bonds to modernize, repair and expand the city’s sewage and waste water treatment system.

ARGUMENTS FOR

Modernization of the city’s overworked sewer system is critical to help city meet federal environmental standards and begin the “healing” of polluted Santa Monica Bay. Bond financing is the fairest way to pay for the repairs because cost will be passed on to future users. Failure of the measure could result in a tripling of residential sewer service bills.

Supporters: Mayor Tom Bradley; the City Council; Board of Public Works President Edward J. Avila; Sierra Club regional director Bob Hattoy; Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce President Ray Remy; county Federation of Labor Secretary/Treasurer William R. Robertson; Heal the Bay President Dorothy Green.

ARGUMENTS AGAINST Opponents: None.

MEASURE

City Proposition N Fire Equipment Bonds

WHAT IT WOULD DO

Authorize the city to levy a real property-related special tax over 10 years to repay proposed $67 million in bonds for fire safety and paramedic communications and dispatch equipment.

ARGUMENTS FOR

Outdated and overburdened LAFD communications equipment should be replaced to enable shorter response times of paramedics and firefighters, critical in saving lives and property. Provides lowest-cost method of updating system.

Supporters: Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley; City Council President John Ferraro; City Councilman Richard Alatorre; City Fire Commission President Kenneth Washington; Fire Chief Donald O. Manning; Police Chief Daryl F. Gates; Joseph J. Pinola, chairman of the board, chief executive officer First Interstate Bankcorp.; William R. Robertson, executive secretary/treasurer, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO.

ARGUMENTS AGAINST Opponents: None.

MEASURE

City Proposition O Oil Drilling

WHAT IT WOULD DO

Rescind three 1985 ordinances permitting Occidental Petroleum Corp. to drill up to 60 oil wells on a 2-acre site in Pacific Palisades across Pacific Coast Highway from Will Rogers State Beach. Would also establish an inland zone--1,000 yards wide from the mean high tide--in which new oil drilling operations would be banned. (Rivals Proposition P; if both pass, one getting most yes votes wins).

ARGUMENTS FOR

Oil drilling should be barred along the coastline, especially at the Palisades site beneath bluffs with a landslide history and near an earthquake fault. The drilling, although on land, also could hamper efforts to prevent offshore drilling in Santa Monica Bay.

Supporters: U.S. Sens. Pete Wilson and Alan Cranston, state Controller Gray Davis, Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy, a number of state legislators and congressmen, eight Los Angeles City Council members including co-sponsors Marvin Braude and Zev Yaroslavsky, the Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, No Oil Inc.

ARGUMENTS AGAINST Palisades project has undergone several rigorous reviews and is safe, made more so by Occidental agreement to install dewatering system to stabilize the Palisadian bluffs. Would unfairly allow certain exemptions for drilling and is merely an attempt by influential people in an exclusive neighborhood to prohibit oil operations while those same people tolerate drilling elsewhere in the city.

Opponents: Occidental Petroleum Corp., the Los Angeles Police Protective League, Councilman Richard Alatorre, State Sen. Art Torres, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, Bishop H. H. Brookins, former Police Chief Tom Reddin. MEASURE

City Proposition P Oil Drilling

WHAT IT WOULD DO

Reaffirm 1985 ordinances permitting Occidental Petroleum Corp. to drill in Pacific Palisades. Set aside a 7-cent-per-barrel trust fund for toxic waste enforcement. Attempt to earmark funds for more police and parks. (Rivals Proposition O; if both pass, one with most yes votes wins).

ARGUMENTS FOR

Depending on success of drilling, could provide hundreds of millions of dollars for police and other services. Protects coastline by requiring city policy against offshore drilling in Santa Monica Bay.

Supporters: Occidental Petroleum Corp., the Los Angeles Police Protective League, Councilman Richard Alatorre, State Sen. Art Torres, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, Bishop H. H. Brookins, former Police Chief Tom Reddin.

ARGUMENTS AGAINST

Seeks to confuse voters who otherwise oppose coastal oil drilling. Passage would lead to drilling in Santa Monica Bay because offshore drilling proponents in Congress would believe city voters are not averse to coastal oil operations.

Opponents: U.S. Sens. Pete Wilson and Alan Cranston, state Controller Gray Davis, Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy, a number of state legislators and congressmen, eight Los Angeles City Council members, the Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, No Oil Inc.