Election Wrap-Up: Greenbelt Measures Win
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Election Wrap-Up: Greenbelt Measures Win |
Greenbelt Alliance * The Newswire
Volume 1, November 2002
Bay Area and California voters decided several important growth-related ballot measures on Election Day. As noted by John King, the San Francisco Chronicle's Urban Design writer, "voters showed an openness to what is called smart growth—an idea that new development should fold back into older areas, rather than simply spread out on the periphery." Of the seven measures Greenbelt Alliance took a position on, five went our way:
Local Measures:
Fremont voters passed Measure T, the Hillside Protection
Initiative, which was endorsed by Greenbelt Alliance. Measure T protects the
1,419-acre Vargas Plateau and the hills west of Fremont, closing a loophole
in an earlier measure.
Windsor voters turned down Measure X, which was opposed by Greenbelt Alliance. Measure X was an overly restrictive growth cap measure, which would have limited residential building in Windsor and redirected pressure for new housing onto neighboring communities.
San Francisco's Proposition B, which was endorsed by Greenbelt Alliance, failed to achieve the two-thirds vote needed to pass. Proposition B would have raised $250 million to construct and renovate affordable housing and assist first-time homebuyers.
Tiburon's Measure I, which was endorsed by Greenbelt Alliance, lost by a narrow margin of 132 votes. Measure I would have strengthened the protection of open space on Tiburon Ridge.
State Measures:
California voters passed Proposition 46, a housing bond
endorsed by Greenbelt Alliance. Proposition 46 allows the state to raise $2.1
billion for multifamily housing and assistance for first-time homebuyers.
Voters also passed Proposition 50, a water bond endorsed by Greenbelt Alliance. Proposition 50 generates $3.4 billion for water quality projects, including the restoration of San Francisco Bay wetlands and the purchase and protection of coastal lands.
Greenbelt Alliance opposed Proposition 51, which was
defeated at the polls. Proposition 51 attempted to divert money from the state's
general fund to transportation projects at the expense of other state spending
priorities such as education and health care.