Redevelopment Plan, Safety Tax Lose Big at Polls

Voters overwhelmingly defeated the city’s first redevelopment project and a public safety tax in a special election Tuesday.

With 12.8% of the eligible voters casting ballots, Measure A, the referendum on the city’s redevelopment plan, was defeated 917 to 363, a margin of nearly 3-1. Measure B, a tax for police services, was rejected by more than 5-1, 1,063 votes to 199.

“We won very, very convincingly,” said Richard M. Hanson, 59, spokesman for RAGE or Referendum Against Governmental Eviction. RAGE campaigned against both measures.

Failure of the redevelopment measure precludes the city from trying to start a new project for a year, Community Development Director Rick Hartmann said Wednesday.

Hartmann said it is too early to determine whether the city will try another plan next year or how the city will meet its funding needs in the meantime.

“We’re looking at revenue sources and doing budget analysis to determine sources of funding and what expenditures we are required to provide,” Hartmann said. “We will see how they balance out.”

The council placed both measures on the ballot after RAGE collected 1,613 signatures on petitions opposing the city’s redevelopment project, adopted in June. The project, covering 92.7 acres in four areas, was intended to stimulate business development in the downtown area to build the city’s sales tax base. Critics said they were concerned that eminent domain would be used to remove small businesses and houses.

Mayor Charles H. Storing had said earlier that the redevelopment plan was “our last chance to get the city off the ground without costing the taxpayers any money.”

The public safety tax was placed on the ballot to make up for revenues that would be lost if the redevelopment project failed.

It would have taxed residential property at $75 a parcel and commercial and industrial properties at 25 cents per square foot.

“The money has to come from somewhere,” Storing said.

Hanson said city officials need to think of innovative ways to save money, such as cutting salaries, he said. He proposed using as an example the city of La Verne, which went to a 36-hour workweek, with no scheduled pay raises for two to three years.

Hanson also said that, with Smith Food & Drug scheduled to open soon, the city will have some revenue.

Final Results * LA PUENTE Special Election 8 of 8 Precincts Reporting: Votes (%) Measure A Redevelopment Referendum

Yes: 363 (28.4) No: 917 (71.6) Measure B Public Safety Tax*

Yes: 199 (15.7) No: 1,063 (84.2) * Requires two-thirds approval for passage