Deukmejian Stymies Sale of Caltrans Land to Hawthorne

In a setback for Hawthorne officials and residents, Gov. George Deukmejian Friday cut from the state’s $49.3-billion budget a provision requiring Caltrans to sell the city two parcels of property for $200,000.

Caltrans, which claims the properties are worth at least $3.3 million, opposes the sale.

Provisions of the sale were set forth in Assembly Bill 702, approved in a 43-24 Assembly vote in June. The bill, by Assemblyman Richard E. Floyd (D-Hawthorne), is to go before the state Senate Transportation Committee on July 18.

The requirement that Caltrans sell the properties for $200,000 was contained in the proposed state budget submitted to the governor about 10 days ago.

In a memorandum listing his cuts from the proposed budget, Deukmejian stated Friday that the sale of the properties for below-market value would “override the (Transportation) Department’s authority to sell excess land for parks at a mutually satisfactory price” as provided by state law. The sale “would not be in the state’s best interests,” he said.

Veto Was Expected

R. Kenneth Jue, Hawthorne’s city manager, said Friday that the governor’s veto had been “somewhat expected,” but that the decision leaves the city in limbo on the long-negotiated property sale.

Residents of the affluent Holly Glen area of Hawthorne have urged the city to acquire for parkland the 4.7-acre parcel known as the “Glasgow strip.” The narrow, mile-long property alongside the San Diego Freeway has been used as a dumping ground and become an eyesore and safety hazard, says the Holly Glen Taxpayers’ Assn.

Also mentioned in Floyd’s bill is a 1.1-acre parcel, west of the San Diego Freeway, south of Rosecrans Avenue.

Jue said Friday that the city may consider hiring a lobbyist to seek the necessary two-thirds approval by the Legislature to override Deukmejian’s veto. The chances of obtaining a two-thirds majority are slim, he conceded.

Jue said the city would not pay Caltrans’ price of $3.3 million. While Caltrans has appraised the properties for residential development, the city has rezoned the parcels as urban open space, which results in a considerably lower appraisal value than Caltrans’, Jue said.

City Could Challenge

Meanwhile, Jeff Ruch, a spokesman for Floyd in Sacramento, said Friday that the city could file a legal challenge to Deukmejian’s piecemeal blue-penciling of the proposed budget.

Floyd will encourage Hawthorne to challenge Deukmejian’s cuts as an improper usurping of Legislative power, Ruch said. Deukmejian can cut the whole Caltrans budget, but cannot delete segments of it, Ruch said. The governor “cannot legislate,” Ruch said. “He can’t just rewrite the bill that was sent to him.”

But Wallis Clark, state budget manager for transportation and housing programs, said that such cuts are “well within the Governor’s authority.” Deukmejian cut the $200,000 sale out of the budget because it would result in a loss of revenue to the state, Clark said.