LOCAL ELECTIONS / SAN DIEGO PROPOSITIONS : Key Ballot Measures Face San Diego Voters : Propositions: Fate of Mt. Soledad Cross, term limits, and political redistricting are among the ballot issues.

Spawned by some of the more controversial issues to confront San Diego city government in recent times, a handful of ballot measures on the June 2 ballot will ask voters to enact everything from fundamental political change to minor bureaucratic reform.

Mayor Maureen O’Connor led the drive to place six of the seven measures before voters and supports the seventh. The election gives O’Connor, who will step down at the end of the year, a chance to enact some reforms she has been seeking since she took office nearly six years ago.

“We’ve been working hard to get these reforms on the ballot ever since she was elected,” said Paul Downey, the mayor’s spokesman. “It’s nice to finally get them on.”

Seven measures, one of which is advisory, ask voters to accomplish everything from placing reapportionment power in the hands of a nonpartisan commission to closing a loophole that came to light during last year’s sex-and-hush money scandal.

The best known issue is covered by Proposition F, the city’s attempt to transfer dedicated parkland under the Mt. Soledad cross to a nonprofit group as a way of saving the 43-foot cross that has become a local landmark.

A federal court judge last year ordered the cross removed, ruling that it and another atop Mt. Helix violate the state Constitution’s ban on mixing church and state. The city, which is appealing the ruling, argues that the cross is a historic landmark and a war memorial, and should be preserved.

City officials claim they have overwhelming support of the public on the issue, and a Times poll taken last week indicates that the measure enjoys a strong favorable rating.

“It’s the feedback I’ve been getting all along,” O’Connor said. “Wherever I go, it’s across the board, an overwhelming percentage. It just should stay.”

But Peter Irons, an attorney representing atheist activists and others who want the cross removed, said the city-sponsored initiative is itself illegal.

“The main argument is that the city has no legal authority to dispose of dedicated parkland in this manner and for this purpose,” Irons said. The city is using the ballot measure to evade a judicial ruling, which is illegal, and is not complying with city and state laws and zoning regulations covering property transfers, Irons said.

In addition, the city is not entertaining bids from others, having already decided to sell the land to the Mt. Soledad Memorial Assn. for $14,500, Iron said.

City attorneys say the measure is legally sound.

Proposition F is the only measure requiring a two-thirds vote for passage. The Times Poll indicated that it had a good chance of receiving that level of support.

Another long-term O’Connor goal has been a two-term limit on the tenure of San Diego’s mayor, City Council members and city attorney. Proposition A would prohibit those officials from serving more than eight consecutive years in office.

“I just think it’s healthy, and I think it should be part of the City Charter,” O’Connor said. “I just feel that we should not have professional career politicians.” The Times poll also shows a strong favorable rating for the measure.

But, since the City Charter was adopted in 1931, only four council members have served three or more full terms, and no mayor has been in office that long. The city attorney’s office has been occupied by two long-term incumbents.

Also, the state legislative counsel’s office has warned that charter cities don’t have the power to impose term limits.

The only measure not sponsored by the council itself could enact the most fundamental political change of all. Proposition C would place the power to reapportion council districts every 10 years in the hands of an independent, seven-member commission appointed by the presiding judge off the Municipal Court.

The idea, advocated by a city charter review commission, was placed on the ballot by the council after the ugly fracas that erupted during the city’s 1991 redistricting, which ended up in court and resulted in the recall of Councilwoman Linda Bernhardt.

Attorney Michael Aguirre, who has sued both the city and the county to enhance minority voting clout, said the independent commission would prevent the bitter political struggles that result from allowing elected officials to shape their own districts.

“That’s the real deal,” Aguirre said of the measure. The commissioners “don’t have a stake in the system, don’t have a vested interest in the system. It’s a lot better than having the council doing it.”

The measure is endorsed by the local Common Cause chapter and the League of Women Voters. It has drawn no opposition.

Proposition B, which would eliminate the council’s authority to fill its own vacancies by appointment, may be especially timely this year. Council members Bob Filner, Ron Roberts and Judy McCarty are running for higher offices, and O’Connor is retiring.

The proposition would require an election to fill council vacancies, unless they occur within 100 days of a regularly scheduled election.

O’Connor, Filner and Councilwoman Valerie Stallings have signed the ballot argument in favor of the measure. Congressional candidate Skip Cox is opposed, reasoning that, in a multicandidate election, the new council member could be chosen with much less than 50% of the vote. Such was the case when current Councilman Tom Behr won a seven-person election to replace Bernhardt in 1991.

Another measure born of city government scandal is Proposition D, which requires the city manager, city attorney and city auditor to inform the council of “all material facts or significant developments relating to all matters under the jurisdiction of the council.”

The measure is a reaction to the embarrassing disclosure that neither former City Manager John Lockwood nor City Atty. John Witt told the council of a secret $100,000 payment that Lockwood arranged last year to settle a sexual harassment claim by former city planner Susan Bray against former Planning Director Robert Spaulding.

Spaulding lost his job when the information was leaked to the press and the outraged council launched an investigation.

Proposition E would require all persons proposing to do business with the city to disclose the names of principals involved if the transaction would result in a contract, lease or franchise with the city.

Proposition G, which is advisory only, asks the public whether the council should be given $170 million of the about $340 million that was collected since 1988 under the half-cent tax for courts and jails. The tax was ruled illegal by the California Supreme Court last year, and a judge will determine how to rebate the money.

Under the ballot measure, the city would use the money to hire more police officers.