Local ballot measures generally fare well

Residents will decide the fate of Yorba Linda’s seventh municipal ballot measure in 39 years when they cast votes Tuesday on Measure B, the citizen-sponsored Right-to-Vote on Land-Use Amendments initiative.

And, for the third time in city history, local voters will help decide whether or not to send a sitting City Council member to higher office.

All but one of the previous six ballot measures won voter approval, including the 1967 incorporation decision, which drew 2,601 Yorba Lindans to the polls. Cityhood won with a 1,963 to 638 tally.

After the city’s original five councilmen were removed from office in the 1970 and 1972 elections, voters approved the 1972 low-density General Plan by a 2,317 to 1,902 vote. In a 1986 advisory ballot, residents recommended that council draft an ordinance banning “safe and sane” fireworks by an 8,651 to 4,207 vote. Council enacted the new law soon after the election.

When a council majority ignored a 1992 advisory vote for a two-term council limit, which passed overwhelmingly 17,604 to 4,817, term-limit proponents worked for a binding ballot measure four years later.

The 1996 election featured two competing ordinances, one for a two-term limit and the other for a three-term limit. Both won, but the “yes” vote was higher for the three-term limit, 15,087 to 6,906, so it became law. The two-term limit vote was 13,008 to 8,517.

The lone ballot defeat was on a measure that would have stopped the Imperial Highway widening project in 1998, with 7,337 voting for the initiative to stop the improvements and 12,596 voting against the initiative and for the widening.

If Mayor Mike Duvall tops Marty Simonoff for the Republican nomination in the 72^nd District state Assembly contest, he’s virtually guaranteed a November general election victory, due to the district’s heavy Republican registration.

The only other sitting council members to seek higher office were Barbara Kiley, who placed third to Dick Ackerman and Chris Norby in a 1995 special election to fill a state Assembly vacancy, and John Gullixson, who lost a 2000 Superior Court judge race to Marc Kelly.

Gullixson also lost the Republican nomination for a Congressional seat to Bill Dannemeyer in 1988, but that was before Gullixson’s tumultuous 1990-2002 council years.

A FINAL NOTE

Forty-eight high-achieving eighth grade graduates are among 122 Yorba Linda students expected to participate in next year’s International Baccalaureate program at Valencia High School. The school’s total IB enrollment is 282.

Students can earn university credit for IB classes and qualify for an internationally recognized diploma after completing the rigorous four-year course-of-study. IB students also can enroll in 21 Advanced Placement courses offered on the Tiger campus.

Val Tech expects 30 Yorba Linda students next year out of a total 111. The technology program offers specialized courses for students preparing for careers in science, technology, engineering, business, computer science, arts and communications.

The magnet Gifted and Talented Education Program at Kraemer Middle School enrolled 162 seventh and eighth grade students this year, including 68 from Yorba Linda.

GATE and other honors-level Kraemer students are eligible to enroll in seven “bridge” classes on the Valencia campus, including Algebra Honors, Biology Honors, Computer Applications, Drama, French, Geometry and Japanese.