Safe and Healthy Communities

December 7, 1999

Contact: Leonard Kranser, CSHC Communications Director 949-499-5567

or Jeff Metzger, CSHC Chairman 949-454-1196

Tuesday, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, Charles Smith, assigned the ballot letter "F" to the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative. Rosalyn Lever, the Registrar of Voters, previously had written that the initiative, the only countywide measure on the March 2000 ballot, normally would be assigned the letter designation "A". Supporters of the voters rights measure said the Board "Flunks" for this and several other attempts to interfere with passage of the measure.

Supervisor Todd Spitzer said, at the Board meeting, that the Safe and Healthy Communities initiative, "sends an F grade to the Board for their contempt of the will of the people." Over 192,000 county residents signed petitions to place it on the ballot, in the largest such effort in Orange County history.

The ballot measure successfully withstood a legal attack by the George Argyros-backed Citizens for Jobs and the Economy and several Newport Beach-based groups. A Superior Court Judge ruled against initiative opponents who unsuccessfully challenged the measure on constitutional and procedural grounds.

A YES vote on Measure F, will require the county to obtain two-thirds voter approval for new or expanded airports, large jails within one-half mile of residential neighborhoods, or hazardous landfills. It will reform the planning process in Orange County by mandating that the environmental impacts, costs, and alternatives to major harmful projects must be made public before they are approved by the voters. To obtain a copy of the initiative, call 949-768-4583 or log on to www.safe-and-healthy.org.