Redevelopment Project, Safety Tax Voted Down
Voters in La Puente overwhelmingly overturned the city’s first redevelopment project and defeated a public safety tax in a special election Tuesday.
With 12.8% of the eligible voters casting ballots, a referendum on a downtown redevelopment project approved by the City Council in June was rejected 917 to 363. A proposed property tax increase to be spent on police services was rejected 1,063 to 199. It would have cost homeowners $75 and businesses 25 cents per square foot annually.
The council placed both measures on the ballot after the Referendum Against Governmental Eviction, or RAGE, collected 1,613 signatures on petitions opposing the redevelopment project, which was intended to lure new business. The public safety tax was placed on the ballot to make up for revenues that would be lost if the redevelopment project was rejected.
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