June Ballot Must List Pros, Cons With Each Rail Option, Court Rules

A state Court of Appeal on Thursday gave a partial victory to a San Fernando Valley group that protested the way a mass-transit measure was written on the June 5 ballot.

The court ordered that the ballot include pro and con arguments for each alternative of a multiple-choice measure designed to gauge voters’ opinions of proposed rail transit options in the Valley.

Members of Campaign for Valley Rail Transit had asked that the advisory measure be stricken from the ballot entirely, arguing that the state Election Code does not allow the use of multiple-choice questions. The measure asks voters to make one choice among three rail route alternatives or to select a fourth, “no project” alternative.

The appeals court expressed “serious doubts about the propriety of the use of such alternative options in a ballot proposition.” But, the ruling said, because of the “emergency nature of the petition, the advisory character of the measure, and the short time available prior to the printing of the ballots” the court would not remove the measure from the ballot.

The ballot was scheduled to go to the printer this morning, said Roger L. Stanard, a Warner Center attorney and chairman of Campaign for Valley Rail Transit, which supports a 5.6-mile extension of Metro Rail across the San Fernando Valley to the San Diego Freeway.

However, Stanard said, he considered it a “victory” that his group will be able to write a ballot argument in favor of the Metro Rail extension, which was approved by county transportation officials last week.

The group went to court after learning that the only arguments on the ballot would be those written by county Supervisor Mike Antonovich favoring construction of a monorail from Universal City to Warner Center, and an argument against all rail projects by Encino homeowner activist Gerald A. Silver.

Under the court order issued Thursday, the county clerk is required to include one argument for or against each of the four alternatives, provided that those arguments are delivered to the clerk by 10 a.m. today.

The four options on the ballot are the monorail, the metro rail extension, a ground-level rail line from North Hollywood to Warner Center, and no rail line at all.

The referendum was placed on the ballot by Antonovich in the hope of boosting his monorail proposal, which was passed over by the County Transportation Commission in favor of the Metro Rail extension.