Outsiders behind Measure B opposition

As expected, outside-the-city organizations and their deep-pocket developer allies are funding the expensive campaign against Measure B, the citizen-sponsored Right-to-Vote on Land-Use Amendments initiative.

The initiative would require a public vote on major changes to the city’s current low-density zoning and General Plan documents. Petitioners gathered 8,647 signatures last summer to qualify the measure for the June 6 ballot.

The newly formed No on B committee, sponsored by Orange County Housing Providers, rented a private mailbox at Yorba Linda’s UPS store to give the group a local flavor.

But Orange County Housing Providers actually is based in Laguna Hills and has five member organizations, including the Building Industry Association, the Manufactured Housing Educational Trust, the Orange County Association of Realtors, the South Coast Apartment Association and the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties.

The No on B treasurer is Dana Reed, a partner in the Los Angeles-based Reed and Davidson law firm, which specializes in political, initiative, referendum and election law. The assistant treasurer is Flora Yin, an associate in the same firm.

One of Reed’s major clients is the Building Industry Association of Southern California. Earlier this year, the BIA sent a lawyer to join several city-paid attorneys at a Superior Court hearing in a failed attempt to keep Yorba Lindans from voting on the initiative

The city’s legal tab for the abortive court case now stands at $151,662 for attorney billings through March 31, according to city finance director Susan Hartman.

So far, the No on B group has paid for endorsements on voting guides and funded some scary brochures. One misleading mailing featured a statement from the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs, a group that also endorsed former Gov. Jerry Brown for attorney general.

The laughably false COPS analysis reads, “Measure B will make Yorba Linda less safe. By forcing the city and taxpayers to spend millions on special elections, funding for vital programs like law enforcement will be cut,” as if any sane council would reduce police services.

Fortunately, the grassroots Yorba Lindans for Responsible Redevelopment group is supporting Measure B, although on a shoestring budget. Their accurate and detailed “Frequently Asked Questions” mailer is also available on their http://www.ylrtv.org/ Web site.

Former five-time Mayor Hank Wedaa, first elected as a low-density advocate in 1970, thinks the measure will win, “but not handily.” The 28-year council vet says proponents are “well-organized” and “have developed a following of old-timers and recent arrivals.”

A FINAL NOTE

The misguided recall targeting four council members will find no support in this column. Years ago, I opposed an attempt to recall former three-term Councilman John Gullixson, despite my many policy differences with the controversial politician.

I believe a recall should be reserved for malfeasance in office. I have a few policy differences with current council members, but they aren’t guilty of any criminal conduct.

Residents, if they wish, can vote out Ken Ryan and Keri Wilson in November and Allen Castellano and Jim Winder in 2008. Past recall petitions have never gathered enough signatures to force a vote, and, after the initial ballyhoo, the current effort also will fail.

Getting it right on blight

Finally, Yorba Linda’s beleaguered City Council members are planning to use Redevelopment Agency tax revenues to attack actual blight in the Old Town area.

A recent city agreement with Yorba Linda Housing Partners involves refurbishing the 76-unit Linda Gardens Apartments on Plumosa Avenue, just south of the water district’s headquarters building.

Yorba Linda Housing Partners is a new private entity that shouldn’t be confused with Old Town Yorba Linda Partners, the developers who proposed a controversial overhaul of Town Center with new businesses, underground parking and condominiums.

In 1997, the Housing Partners--under the Southern California Housing Development Corporation name--transformed the old Posada Apartments, across the street from Linda Gardens, into an attractive low-income housing project renamed Arbor Villas.

Strangely, the Linda Gardens land is not located inside the redevelopment zone, while some adjacent acreage, such as the longtime Jack and Jane Adams residence at the northeast corner of Plumosa Avenue and Lemon Drive, was included in the area in 1990.

Both the old Posada and the Linda Gardens units date from the early 1960s, when county planning officials and the Board of Supervisors controlled all local development.

The influx of apartment projects as well as countless gasoline stations along Yorba Linda Boulevard convinced many early residents that municipal incorporation would best preserve the community’s low-density identity and horse-oriented, semi-rural environment.

Linda Gardens “has experienced notable physical deterioration over the years. In addition to an overcrowding problem, long-standing drainage, circulation and law enforcement issues have also plagued the facility and surrounding neighborhood,” according to a memo prepared by Assistant City Manager Dave Gruchow.

Brea police responded to 236 calls for law enforcement at the complex during 2004 and 2005, making the 4672 Plumosa Ave. address one of the city’s “single most responded-to locations,” Gruchow noted. By contrast, police activity decreased 46 per cent the year after Arbor Villas opened.

Gruchow pointed out that the rehabilitation project is not without financial risk. If the Housing Partners group does not secure certain low-income housing tax credits, the city could be on the hook for $16.3 million.

Fortunately, this time, the council got it right. The project won’t reposition historic buildings to make way for high-density condominiums, and tax money will be spent to eliminate genuine blight, not push people out of their homes and businesses to build a better tax base.

Next, council members should maintain the downtown parcels they’ve purchased under the threat of eminent domain the past several years, rather than create their own version of blight.

A FINAL NOTE

If Measure B passes with a majority vote June 6, developers and other individuals and firms associated with the building industry, including developer-funded political action committees, might be less apt to make their usual hefty donations to council members’ campaign treasuries.

While Measure B, the citizen-sponsored Right-to-Vote on Land-Use Amendments initiative, won’t stop future development in Yorba Linda, it would require a public vote if developers want to increase density levels beyond current zoning regulations and General Plan requirements.

Developers would have little incentive to pay for incumbents’ expensive election-year mailings, if council members no longer had the final say on higher densities for major new projects.

Duvall emerging as frontrunner

With the June primary less than a month away, Mayor Mike Duvall is emerging as the clear frontrunner in the race for the Republican nomination in the state’s 72^nd Assembly District, which includes Yorba Linda residents living west of Fairmont Boulevard.

In an energetic campaign for the seat now held by Lynn Daucher, Duvall so far has out-matched the efforts of his lone opponent, third-term Brea Councilman Marty Simonoff.

Duvall’s key advantage is his fund-raising prowess. He’s banked $437,630 to Simonoff’s $268,994, according to campaign finance reports filed with the state last month.

The mayor’s big money lead has enabled him to target the district’s likely GOP voters with five expensive mailers as of May 5. The district’s 201,859 registered voters live in Brea, Fullerton and Placentia and parts of Anaheim, La Habra, Orange and Yorba Linda.

Duvall’s first mailer recruited potential absentee voters, with subsequent pieces focused on such campaign themes as illegal immigration and eminent domain abuse.

In the latter mailer, Duvall claims he “has led efforts to stop eminent domain abuses by local government.” Actually, at a 2003 meeting, he supported preparing a report and “proper documentation” outlining a process to extend the period of time the city’s Redevelopment Agency could initiate eminent domain proceedings.

He also voted for a measure concerning eminent domain on an Arroyo Street property in 2002, and he was silent when the Agency restored its eminent domain authority in 2003.

Duvall supports Measure A on the June 6 ballot but hasn’t yet taken a stand on Measure B, Yorba Linda’s citizen-sponsored Right-to-Vote on Land-Use Amendments initiative.

Measure A would prevent the county from conveying property acquired by eminent domain to another private party, while Measure B would require a public vote on all substantial changes to the city’s low-density zoning and General Plan documents.

Other important Duvall advantages include the mayor’s many endorsements from federal, state and local Republican leaders and Duvall’s successful effort to position himself as more conservative than Simonoff.

Interestingly, the only clash between the longtime Brea Lions Club colleagues--so far--concerns a $250 contribution Duvall gave to Simonoff’s recent council re-election race.

After Simonoff switched the donation to his Assembly campaign treasury, Duvall asked Simonoff to return the money and remove the amount from his financial filings, a request that hasn’t been acknowledged, according to Duvall campaign manager Andrew Kiefer.

A FINAL NOTE

Two weeks ago I commented that lawsuits discussed during completely legal secret sessions of the City Council and Yorba Linda Water District were costing tax and rate payers plenty because we end up paying attorney fees for both sides of the arguments.

Former water director Mark Abramowitz e-mailed: “Compliance with open meeting laws was not a real high priority with my colleagues when I was on the water board. On at least one occasion I left the room rather than violate the Brown Act for an improper closed session.”

“On another occasion, when I pulled out a tape recorder at a publicly noticed committee meeting…my colleague refused to participate…. Since he was the only other [committee member], the public’s business [couldn’t] be done,” the director from 1998-2002 wrote.

Is YLRRR on the wane?

Does dwindling attendance at public meetings sponsored by the grassroots group Yorba Linda Residents for Responsible Redevelopment signal that City Council members are weathering the political storm resulting from their ill-conceived Old Town redevelopment plan?

Of course, we won’t know the final answer to that question until the votes are tallied on the Right-to-Vote on Land-Use Amendments initiative--which appears as Measure B on the June 6 ballot--and for the two council positions scheduled for the Nov. 7 election.

But some of the city’s longtime low-density advocates might be feeling a bit complacent because the council rescinded the unpopular Town Center zoning ordinances in February and restricted the Redevelopment Agency’s despised eminent domain authority in March.

Only 44 residents attended an April 19 YLRRR gathering and 46 picketed the Building Industry Association’s annual fundraising event at the Nixon Library the next evening. The picketing represented YLRRR’s kick-off campaign event in support of Measure B.

Those numbers are down significantly from the concerned crowd of more than150 residents who participated in the group’s February meeting, which included spirited debate about proposals to recall two, three or all five council members.

However, board member Ed Rakochy told the sparse April assembly, “We’ve got the council on the run,” as he outlined several strategies to win support for Measure B, which would require a public vote on major changes to the city’s key planning documents.

Clearly, YLRRR members face a challenging task as they try to turn thousands of petition signers into voters who will support low-density measures and candidates.

The group gathered 8,647 signatures for the Right-to-Vote initiative in two months last summer and 9,790 names against Old Town rezoning in only 21 days in December and January. Now these residents must be motivated to support Measure B with their ballots.

YLRRR has a message that should resonate with Yorba Lindans who are concerned about high-density growth and remember that council members’ election-year promises to preserve the town’s low-density heritage haven’t always been kept.

A successful initiative will make developers accountable to the public-at-large, not just five council members, who use donations from developers and others associated with the building industry to help pay for campaign mailers touting soon-to-be ignored low-density pledges.

With about a month to go before the election, battling voter complacency might be as important as answering arguments presented by Measure B opponents in an expected wave of developer-funded campaign literature.

A FINAL NOTE

Former Councilman Mark Schwing participated in the county Republican Central Committee’s recent ruckus regarding official party backing for Sheriff Mike Carona.

Schwing said he supported handing Carona the committee’s endorsement for a third term at a March meeting, but that ballot fell one vote short of the necessary two-thirds margin.

Carona finally was endorsed at an April meeting--by one vote--but this time Schwing opposed the action because he said the second vote violated the GOP group’s bylaws.

Schwing is seeking a fifth two-year term as the committee’s only Yorba Linda member. He’s up against eight other candidates on the June ballot for the six positions representing the 60^th Assembly District, which includes eastern Yorba Linda.