Residents ready to limit eminent domain use

Yorba Lindans are expected to give a resounding “yes” vote to a measure limiting eminent domain use within city limits when ballots are cast in the Nov. 4 election.

The one-sentence Measure BB is the 12th issue to be placed before residents in city history, if 1967’s 1,963 to 638 vote approving incorporation is included in the count.

BB asks voters to decide whether or not to adopt a two-page ordinance prohibiting the city from taking private property without the owner’s permission to transfer to another private owner for economic development.

The measure would not stop the city from using eminent domain for such traditional public projects as making street improvements and building municipal facilities.

Arguments supporting the measure are included in sample ballot packets ready for mailing beginning today to Yorba Linda’s 41,840 voters by the Registrar of Voters.

The pro-BB arguments were written by City Council members John Anderson and Jan Horton and signed by Allen Castellano, Hank Wedaa and Jim Winder, although Winder voted against placing BB on the ballot because it would limit future councils’ options.

Leading a grass-roots campaign for the measure is Main Street businessman Louie Scull, a frequent speaker during the council’s public comment period. Scull spent $987 for 200 green-and-white signs he’s placed around town and flyers he hands out at public events.

Scull came to Yorba Linda in 1969 and bought the building that now houses his Yorba Linda Plumbing business and Vintage Radios in 1973. A longtime proponent for Old Town upgrades, Scull opposed the recent higher-density downtown development plan.

No anti-BB arguments were submitted, and no organized opposition has surfaced to date.

Two past councils authorized the city Redevelopment Agency to use eminent domain for private development within agency boundaries, which include Old Town and Savi Ranch.

The first eminent domain period expired in the late 1990s but was reinstated for eight years by a council that included current members Castellano and Winder in the early 2000s, when the process was described as a “tool” in a redevelopment “tool belt.”

Council repealed the latter authorization in 2006, after residents gathered 9,790 and 9,771 signatures on two petitions in 21 days to overturn higher-density zoning council approved for Town Center in 2005.

A FINAL NOTE

The Placentia-Yorba Linda school district teachers’ union endorsed Carol Downey, Judy Miller and Eric Padget, president Linda Manion announced.

Downey is seeking a third, Miller a sixth and the recently appointed Padget a first full term. Opponents are Jim Brunette and Shawn Burch for the three seats up for election.

Two long-standing trends might change council race

Two interesting and longstanding trends in Yorba Linda City Council elections might impact this year’s contest involving nine contenders running for three seats on the five-member governing body.

First, voters have never been reticent about bumping incumbents out of office, especially if they think municipal office-holders haven’t diligently protected the city’s heritage as a low-density community.

In 41 years, excluding the current council members, Yorba Lindans have elected just 23 individuals to seats at the dais, and they’ve dumped nine incumbents who sought second, third, fourth or fifth terms—a bump rate of nearly 40 percent.

The removal process started in 1970, when three of the city’s original council members were defeated by a slate of slow-growth candidates, who wrote and implemented Yorba Linda’s first low-density General Plan in 1971.

The ’72 election added two more contenders from a similar slow-growth slate to forge a unanimous low-density council. Incumbents also lost in 1980, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2006.

With some sensing defeat, 11 incumbents have opted out of re-election bids: four left office after one term, five after two terms and two after three terms. Three councilmen have resigned: two left the city and one won higher office.

One indication of trouble for incumbents this year—Hank Wedaa is seeking a ninth term and Jim Winder a third—is their support for the arterial lighting and landscape tax boost property owners defeated with a 75 percent “no” vote in a March mail-in ballot.

Second, Yorba Lindans always vote in larger numbers in a Presidential election than in other regular or special election years.

In the 2004 Bush-Kerry Presidential contest, 32,564 or 80.7 percent of the city’s 40,357 registered voters cast ballots, with first-place finisher Allen Castellano receiving 16,879. In 2006, only 23,354 or 57.4 percent of 40,693 voted, and Jan Horton led with 8,293.

In the 1988 Bush-Dukakis race, 22,334 or 81.6 percent of 27,362 registered voters cast ballots; but in 1990, only 18,029 or 64.8 percent of 27,798 voted. Gene Wisner led in ’88 with 12,380 votes, while John Gullixson ran first in ’90 with 9,231.

The city’s largest turnout came in the 1984 Reagan-Mondale race: 84 percent or 16,386 out of 19,516 registered voters cast ballots. The smallest turnout was for a 2007 special election for a single council seat: only 20.4 percent or 8,362 out of 40,957 voted.

Currently, an all-time high of 41,783 residents are registered to vote, and a spirited contest between the McCain-Palin and Obama-Biden tickets could result in a record number of those casting ballots.

Few challengers in school, college board races

Four of the seven school trustees up for election this year are guaranteed new four-year terms because they drew few or no challengers during the recently closed filing period.

Together, the trustees guide education programs for about 100,000 students in the 155-square-mile North Orange County Community College District and the 45-square-mile Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District.

Nobody chose to challenge Yorba Linda resident Mike Matsuda or Anaheim residents Manuel Ontiveros and Leonard Lahtinen for three of the four community college board seats scheduled for the Nov. 4 ballot, so they’ll be appointed to new terms in December.

But 13-year incumbent Molly McClanahan of Fullerton drew two opponents, real estate agent Ross Romero and journalist/student Dana Crystal. The trustees for Fullerton and Cypress colleges must reside in specific district areas, but they are elected by all voters.

None of the three paid $6,027 for a candidate statement to be mailed with sample ballots packs to the district’s 415,510 voters by the county Registrar of Voters starting Sept. 25.

Two challengers are running against three incumbents for three board seats in the Placentia-Yorba Linda school district, so one incumbent is assured another term.

Businessman Jim Brunette and IT professional Shawn Burch face incumbents Carol Downey, July Miller and Eric Padget in the 27,000-student district with 88,875 voters.

Former Placentia Mayor Downey was appointed to both of her four-year terms, since nobody ran against her in 2000 and 2004. Miller was first elected in 1988 and re-elected in 1992 and 1996, but appointed in 2000 and 2004, when she also didn’t draw opposition.

Padget was appointed in June to fill five months remaining on 16-year incumbent Craig Olson’s final term. Padget lost his race against Karin Freeman and Jan Wagner in 2006 and was one of 15 applicants and five finalists interviewed for the departing Olson’s seat.

Burch also applied for the vacant position but was not a finalist. Brunette, making his first run for office in the community, already posted a Web site, www.jimbrunette.com, and paid $2,277 for a candidate statement, as did Downey, Miller and Padget.

A FINAL NOTE

One Yorba Linda Water District incumbent also is assured re-election, since Mike Beverage, seeking a fifth term, and Ric Collete, seeking a second, have only one opponent for two seats, Dave Rosenberger. All three paid $1,795 for a candidate statement to be sent to 46,089 voters.

Roger Yoh of Buena Park will continue to represent Yorba Linda on the 10-member Orange County Water District board, since he drew no opposition for a second term.

Candidates wise to pledge against donations from out-of-town interests

Surprisingly, only three of the nine individuals seeking City Council seats pledged to not take campaign contributions from out-of-town special interests, including developers and city contractors, in the candidates’ statements to be mailed to voters later this month.

The statements are important, since they are included with the sample ballots mailed to all of the city’s 41,650 registered voters along with where-to-vote information from the county’s Registrar of Voters.

Campaigns financed with generous help from outside-the-city developers and the other individuals and businesses whose profits depend on council decision-making have long raised the hackles of many Yorba Lindans.

And developer interest in who sits on the council hasn’t ended with “build-out” because of upcoming decisions on affordable housing, in-fill projects, a General Plan update and an expected builder challenge to the law requiring a public vote on major zone changes.

In fact, one of the reasons for the big wins by challengers John Anderson and Jan Horton in the 2006 council contest is the strong stand they took against accepting donations from developers and individuals and businesses with city contracts.

This year, challengers Ed Rakochy, Nancy Rikel and former Councilman Mark Schwing took the vow, and the other six candidates would be wise to reassure residents by making similar pledges.

Also, six contenders specifically supported “low-density” or decried “over-development” in their statements, which cost $1,800 each for printing and translation to four languages.

Rakochy, Rikel and Schwing, along with Mark Abramowitz, Hank Wedaa and Jim Winder, made the popular density pledges, which have been issued by virtually all council winners since 1970 but to varying levels of actual application in recent years.

In other council election news:

--Four sitting council members signed petitions nominating candidates for office: Anderson signed for Rakochy, Rikel and Schwing; Horton for Wedaa; Wedaa for Abramowitz and Winder; and Winder for Wedaa and Doug Dickerson.

--Three city commissioners signed petitions: Planning Commissioner Mark Abramowitz for Wedaa; Planning Commissioner Jim Wohlt for Abramowitz, Wedaa and Winder; and Traffic Commissioner Mary Carbone for Rakochy, Rikel and Schwing.

--All nine candidates filed routine economic interest statements, but only Winder listed gifts he received in 2008: a $125 golf outing from Placentia-Linda Hospital for a Boys and Girls Club benefit and a $65 golf outing from Black Gold Golf Club for media day.

--Last day to file a write-in candidacy is Oct. 21: see City Clerk Kathie Mendoza at City Hall.