February 23, 1999
Although it has that "mom and apple pie" ring to it, the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative is hardly an innocuous proposal. It would require a two-thirds countywide vote for any new or expanded hazardous waste landfill, airport or jail that's within a half-mile of 100 or more homes.
The initiative's language was approved last week by the consortium of seven South County cities (El Toro Reuse Planning Authority) trying to thwart the county's conversion of the closing El Toro Marines Corps Air Station into a commercial airport. By supporters' own admission, the proposal is aimed squarely at the airport. Adding landfills and jail projects into the mix serves mainly to expand the initiative's potential base of support and by extension, opposition to the airport.
"They have the avowed purpose of killing the airport," former Newport Beach Mayor Tom Edwards told us. "It's very cleverly drafted. Whoever comes out against it, they'll say, 'Gee whiz, Tom, I see you're in favor of hazardous waste landfills, jails in neighborhoods, the Ebola virus and, oh yes, airports as well."
We agree that by using such a wide brush anti-airport forces have come up with a clever political approach. Indeed, their initial poll results of 500 Orange County residents show about 70 percent support for the initiative. Though the supervisors are unlikely to approve the initiative for the March 2000 ballot, strong poll numbers suggest that supporters should be able to get the 71,000 signatures needed to put it on the ballot anyway.
Still, we are troubled by the proposal because it is likely to result in many kinds of consequences for public policy, some foreseeable, some not.
One of them already has surfaced, as Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona last week announced the initiative would hamstring his ability to find new jail sites to relieve overcrowding. If he can't get new jail space, he said he is forced to push forward with another project some South County politicians also oppose: expansion of the Musick jail from 1,100 beds to as many as 7,500.
The sheriff had been meeting with South County officials to come up with acceptable jail locations, but now has been undercut in those efforts. As he told the Register on Saturday, "The same people who were working with me to solve a problem have created one."
The sheriff's opposition could doom the initiative. According to the ETRPA-commissioned poll, 56 percent of respondents said they would be less likely to vote yes if county law enforcement believe the initiative would "make it difficult to build new jails and they will have to release convicts early because of overcrowding."
There are other troubling consequences as well. There's the "possibility that you start interfering with private property rights," Mr. Edwards told us, explaining that it could later be amended to require a two-thirds majority vote before office parks, shopping malls or other large private development proposals would be approved.
Bruce Nestande, president of the Citizens for Jobs and the Economy, the group that sponsored the Measure A airport initiative, told us ETRPA's main argument -- that the initiative is needed because the county improperly plans major facilities -- is inaccurate. Current regulations already demand thorough planning, he said. "Anyone who doesn't want something says it's an irresponsible planning process."
We have long argued that El Toro should be cleaned up to environmental standards, then put on the auction block to the highest private bidder. But we agree with the pro-airport Mr. Nestande: "Why not just be honest about it. Don't put in the other stuff (landfills and jails); that's a red herring."
If ETRPA wants to stop the airport, it should deal with the airport issue directly, not promote an innocuous-sounding grab-bag whose consequences local residents have yet to fully understand.