HUNTINGTON BEACH : Initiative Effort Is Low-Budget Affair

Two activist groups that qualified a ballot initiative to prevent city parks and beaches from being developed without voter approval are running a low-budget, grass-roots campaign for the measure, according to financial disclosure statements filed with the city this week.

Relying chiefly on small donations from local residents, Huntington Beach Tomorrow and Save Our Parks collected $9,980 from January through June for their joint campaign, the disclosure reports say. Aside from two $200 contributions and one other for $100, all of the groups’ money has come from individual donations of less than $100.

Although City Council members are divided on the initiative, no organized opposition has emerged.

Leaders of the two groups said Thursday that they plan to accelerate their fund-raising efforts in the months leading up to the Nov. 6 election, but they doubt their campaign coffers will grow much larger.

“All we’ve got is shoe leather. We don’t have any money,” said John Fisher, a spokesman for Save Our Parks, which organized the successful signature-gathering campaign. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to do much advertising at all with what we’ve got. Maybe we can put up 100 signs, if we’re lucky. Hopefully, the amendment will speak for itself.”

The measure scheduled for the city ballot is a proposed charter amendment that would forbid the city from selling or leasing any public park or beach property unless approved by voters. The initiative requires a simple majority of approval to become law.

In addition to donations from members of the two groups, organizers said they raised funds by selling T-shirts at group meetings and Little League games. After Labor Day, the groups each plan to ask supporters once more for small donations, leaders said.

Save Our Parks has no major fund-raising events planned, Fisher said.

But Fisher added that he believes the groups can overcome their budget limitations through their continued volunteer efforts, as long as they are not opposed by a high-priced campaign to defeat the measure.

“We’re novices at this, so we really don’t know what to expect,” Fisher added. “We always knew this would be a grass-roots campaign, but as it turns out, we might end up to be fertilizer for the grass roots.”