Voters Reject Stadium Tax for Giants in Santa Clara

The Bay Area future of the San Francisco Giants became clouded again Wednesday when tabulations showed that voters in five Santa Clara County communities had narrowly rejected a 1% utility tax that would have financed a 45,000-seat stadium for the Giants in Santa Clara.

This was the third ballot rejection for the Giants in the last four years, following the refusal of San Francisco voters to approve a downtown stadium in 1987 and again in 1989.

Owner Bob Lurie, who has long been critical of Candlestick Park, had said before Tuesday’s election that Santa Clara represented the Giants’ last hope to stay in the Bay Area. He told club spokesman Matt Fischer that the Giants would play at Candlestick in 1991 and make a decision on 1992 and beyond early next year.

The Giants’ lease at Candlestick runs through 1994, but the club reached an agreement with the city before the San Francisco stadium proposal went on the ballot for a second time in 1989 that if the issue was defeated, the Giants could break the lease and leave at any time.

“Bob is obviously disappointed and plans to take the next few months to look at all the alternatives, some of which the club may not even be aware of at this time,” said Fischer, the club’s media relations director. “I’ve been with the Giants for eight years, and it seems like we’re always in limbo. There’s no way of knowing how it will be resolved.”

A knowledgeable baseball source said he has heard that San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos has promised the Giants he will make one final attempt to secure private financing for a downtown stadium or present the matter to the voters one last time.

The source said the possibility of the Giants moving has been complicated by the fact that the National League is already expanding by two teams in 1993, meaning two of the most attractive new sites will have been reserved for those new teams. The expansion committee is scheduled to present its recommendations to the owners in June, 1991.

Edward DeBartolo Jr., owner of the San Francisco 49ers, said last week that he would like to buy the Giants and build a multipurpose stadium with private funds in Santa Clara, which is close to where the 49ers train, but the National Football League prohibits dual ownership, and Lurie has given no indication that he would be willing to sell.

Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent, in Japan, said through a spokesman that he was disappointed with the Santa Clara results but would have no other comment.

Dodger President Peter O’Malley said he would not speculate on the possibility of the Giants moving and its impact on the Dodgers.

“I know that a lot of baseball fans in Northern California are hoping that somehow, some way, the Giants can remain there in a modern, comfortable stadium,” O’Malley said.

In 31 years at cold, windy and gray Candlestick, the Giants have drawn more than 2 million in attendance only once--attracting 2,059,829 in 1989, when they won the National League pennant.

They drew 1.9 million in 1990, while the Oakland Athletics drew 2.9 million.

With only a small number of absentee votes to be counted in the combined election in Santa Clara, San Jose, Sunnyvale and Milpitas, the utility tax was losing, 50.5% to 49.5%. The difference was fewer than 3,000 votes, 129,652 to 126,906, but a separate, equally essential measure to approve San Jose’s participation in the $153-million project also failed, 51% to 49%.

Voters in Mountain View overwhelmingly rejected participation in the project, 61.2% to 38.8%. That measure was not essential to the stadium.