South County Led the Way for Measure M

Measure M, the half-cent sales tax for transportation, carried all cities in Orange County except Garden Grove and Westminster and took South County by storm despite that area’s deep-rooted fiscal conservatism, according to final tallies released by the registrar of voters Monday.

After late absentee ballots were added to previous totals this week, Measure M ended up with a 54.8% to 45.2% victory countywide, reversing the November, 1989, results that saw a nearly identical proposition go down to defeat, 52.6% to 47.4%.

Measure M took South County 57.4% to 42.6%, even though two school bonds and a parks bond failed there in recent years. The comfortable margin in the south this time compared to a 50.1% to 49.9% result there in November, 1989. Last year, the measure carried only in Irvine, but by a strong enough margin to swing the South County vote barely in Measure M’s favor.

San Juan Capistrano Mayor Gary L. Hausdorfer said the results in South County go against the grain of the area’s anti-tax reputation, but he pointed out that two South County proposals to finance purchases of open space also won this year.

“I think this shows that the South County is quite progressive,” Hausdorfer said. “You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to figure out that the traffic problem has gotten progressively worse and the people are more frustrated.”

The 5th Supervisorial District, wholly within South County, delivered a stunning 107,184 to 73,404 tally in favor of Measure M.

Transportation officials said a big factor was the Measure M campaign’s decision to spotlight the $55 million in the ballot proposal earmarked for remodeling the El Toro Y, as the confluence of the Santa Ana and San Diego freeways is known.

“That’s probably the most famous freeway bottleneck in California,” said Dana W. Reed, chairman of the Orange County Transportation Commission.

North County voters, meanwhile, supported Measure M by a 52.5% to 47.5% margin this time, compared to the 60.1% to 39.9% drubbing the proposition suffered a year ago. Nearly two-thirds of the countywide vote is cast in the north.

Reed and other transportation officials attributed the turnaround to campaign literature that told voters more specifically than a year ago which streets and freeways in their area would be improved after passage of Measure M.

San Juan Capistrano rancher and slow-growth advocate Tom Rogers, who led the opposition to Measure M this year, credited the proposal’s defeat in Garden Grove and Westminster--by 634 votes and 85 votes, respectively--to active campaigning by Garden Grove Councilman Robert F. Dinsen and Westminster Councilwoman Joy L. Neugebauer, who touted her anti-M position during an unsuccessful bid to topple Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder.

Reed agreed. “Both those individuals carry weight in their respective cities,” he said.

“Thank goodness for some people,” Dinsen said of Measure M’s loss in Garden Grove. “People here are fed up with the way government spends their tax money.”

HOW THE CITIES VOTED ON MEASURE A

1990 1989 Percent City %Yes %Yes Change County Total 54.8 47.4 +7.4 BY SUPERVISORIAL DISTRICT 1st Supervisorial 51.9 38.9 +13.0 2nd Supervisorial 52.4 38.1 +14.3 3rd Supervisorial 55.3 45.3 +10.0 4th Supervisorial 51.4 40.2 +11.2 5th Supervisorial 59.4 51.1 +8.3 BY CITY Anaheim 52.0 39.4 +12.6 Brea 54.7 45.6 +9.1 Buena Park 51.5 41.3 +10.2 Costa Mesa 54.2 36.2 +18.0 Cypress 53.3 44.7 +8.6 Dana Point 60.0 48.0 +12.0 Fountain Valley 50.4 40.0 +10.4 Fullerton 54.1 42.3 +11.8 Garden Grove 49.0 32.8 +16.2 Huntington Beach 52.2 35.8 +16.4 Irvine 62.6 63.7 -1.1 La Habra 52.5 46.3 +6.2 La Palma 53.5 38.0 +15.5 Laguna Beach 60.9 40.4 +20.5 Laguna Niguel 62.6 n/a -- Los Alamitos 59.5 45.9 +13.6 Mission Viejo 59.3 48.6 +10.7 Newport Beach 60.2 49.3 +10.9 Orange 50.6 44.2 +6.4 Placentia 52.2 41.2 +11.0 San Clemente 56.8 46.0 +10.8 San Juan Capistrano 54.9 45.3 +9.6 Santa Ana 55.4 43.0 +12.4 Seal Beach 56.2 49.0 +7.2 Stanton 54.4 39.6 +14.8 Tustin 54.0 40.5 +13.5 Villa Park 53.7 48.6 +5.1 Westminster 49.8 32.5 +17.3 Yorba Linda 54.4 41.3 +13.1 Unincorporated 56.7 48.7 +8.0 NORTH vs. SOUTH North County 52.5 39.9 +12.6 South County 57.4 50.1 +7.3

Source: County registrar of voters