Directors derail ballot proposal

Deirdre Newman

After a spirited debate on whether the Centerline light-rail project

should go on the November ballot, the Orange County Transportation

Authority Board of Directors voted narrowly against it.

Friday, the board could muster only four votes to put CenterLine

-- which is already in the final stage of preliminary engineering --

on the ballot in November. It needed six. Nine board members attended

the meeting. The vote was purely advisory and would have had to be

approved by the county Board of Supervisors.

CenterLine would run 9.3 miles, from Santa Ana to John Wayne

Airport through Costa Mesa. Half of the money for the project is

coming from Measure M, the half-cent sales tax to fund transportation

improvements in Orange County, passed by voters in 1990.

The board, which is mostly made up of elected officials from

around the county, was discussing putting CenterLine on the ballot at

this stage because of the difficulty of procuring half a billion

dollars of federal funding for the project. Some board members felt a

vote of the people would send a message to the Orange County

congressional delegation that residents want a light rail

transportation alternative. Only one of the six local Congress

members -- Loretta Sanchez -- supports CenterLine.

But those opposed to putting CenterLine on the ballot said it was

not necessary for two main reasons: voters already approved the

development of a light rail system with Measure M and because the

board represents the people and already voted to move forward with

CenterLine in January. Construction is set to begin in 2006, and to

open in 2009.

“Why are we here?” asked board member Miguel Pulido, the mayor of

Santa Ana. “I think we’re elected to make tough decisions. Don’t peel

[CenterLine] off and say, ‘Let’s put it out there and see what

happens.’ That’s irresponsible. I think we’re on the first-yard line,

ready to score a touchdown. I think we can turn our Congressional

leaders around.”

While Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, whose district includes Costa

Mesa, has already made it clear that he won’t support federal funding

of CenterLine, even if a majority of voters are in favor of it,

others are still mulling it .

Rep. Chris Cox, whose district includes Newport Beach, said he was

disappointed that the voters won’t get to cast their ballots on the

CenterLine proposal.

“If CenterLine is going to be the next decade-long commitment for

the federal government in Orange County, that will move aside any

other priorities, we need to have solid backing of public opinion in

order to sustain that course,” Cox said.

Costa Mesa Mayor Gary Monahan, who did not attend the meeting,

said he’s glad CenterLine will not appear on the November ballot

since there will be so many issues vying for voters’ attention,

including a proposition strongly supported by mayors.

“There’s only so much time and energy to go around as far as

proponents or opponents or even the general voters have on so many

issues,” Monahan said.

Some of the transportation board members who hoped CenterLine

would go on the ballot said passage of Measure M was not a valid vote

for CenterLine, since the measure just mentioned a general light rail

system.

“Measure M did say light rail, but it said we should use existing

right of way, which CenterLine does not, and be rapid, which

CenterLine is not,” said Chris Norby, a member of the Board of

Supervisors.

Others who wanted Centerline on the ballot were concerned that

even if it did get on in November, more money would be spent on the

project between now and then by transportation agency staff members.

“They have a certain amount of money set aside for this and will

keep spending it,” said Bill Campbell, another member of the Board of

Supervisors. “So we might spend $60-70 million more and have nothing

to show for it [if it fails].”

Pulido said that putting CenterLine on the ballot would be its

death knell. After the vote, he said he would continue lobbying local

members of Congress, to convince them that CenterLine has the will

of the people behind it.

“A lot of people who are important to [the Congress members] --

business leaders, community leaders -- [support it],” Pulido said. “I

think they need to see more of those leaders.”

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at [email protected].