Community College Bond Near Passage; Incumbents Strong

The $200-million bond measure for construction and repair of buildings throughout the Los Angeles Community College District was hovering near the two-thirds majority needed for approval, with more than half of the votes counted in Tuesday’s election.

“Yes” votes for Proposition C led consistently throughout the evening, but it was not clear late Tuesday if the final margin would be enough to ensure passage of what would be the first voter-approved tax increase for community college construction in the Los Angeles area.

Also late Tuesday, the three incumbents running for reelection to the community college Board of Trustees appeared headed for clear victories. Incomplete returns showed Wallace Knox, Julia Li Wu and David Lopez-Lee getting more than the 50% needed to avoid a runoff--with Knox outdistancing all other candidates by a wide margin.

No clear winners had emerged among the 10 candidates fighting for the one open seat on the seven-member board, and it appeared that a runoff would be necessary. Paul Koretz and Kenneth S. Washington were the top vote-getters in incomplete returns. The 10-way scramble in the district--the world’s largest community college district--began after incumbent Harold Garvin decided not to seek reelection.

Although Proposition C was making a strong showing, backer Larry Levine was not ready to declare victory late Tuesday.

“We expected it would be close and that we would have a reasonable chance,” said Levine, a consultant for Citizens for Community College Improvements, the privately funded group spearheading the proposition’s campaign. “That’s where we’re at right now: We’re close and we have a reasonable chance.”

Backers of the measure spent more than $100,000 on a get-out-the-vote drive, including voter registration and an absentee-ballot effort.

Because of a shortage of state construction money and strong competition for funds from campuses around the state, local college district officials considered the capital improvements bond measure crucial.

District officials pledged to give $20 million to each of the system’s nine campuses, with the remaining $20 million going for health and safety improvements at all schools. They planned to use funds to help complete work at Mission College in Sylmar, and Southwest and West Los Angeles colleges, and for renovations at the other schools, some with buildings 50 or 60 years old.

Other colleges in the system are East Los Angeles, Los Angeles City, Harbor, Pierce in Woodland Hills, Trade-Technical downtown and Valley.

Leaders of the Proposition C campaign knew they had an uphill battle. Voters have given the required two-thirds approval to only one community college district in the seven years since state law first gave districts the authority to seek tax increases, according to officials of the California Community Colleges system.

But advocates of Proposition C--encouraged by the lack of organized opposition and some key endorsements--were counting on the district’s staff and students to put the measure over the top in the low-turnout election.

Officials have estimated the cost to the average homeowner at about $2.35 per year for the 30 years it would take to repay the bonds.