California
Proponents of a measure to set salaries and benefits for Santa Maria Police Department employees based on an area average have started seeking qualification for an initiative on the November 2010 ballot. If approved on Nov. 2, 2010, the prevailing wage measure would guarantee police department employees compensation ”” at the minimum ”” that averaged the wages of other selected municipal police forces, county sheriff’s agencies in the Tri-Counties area and the California Highway Patrol.
Measure C on the Nov. 3 ballot in Ventura never mentions Wal-Mart by name, but social justice advocates, unions and other proponents began crafting the initiative with one goal in mind: keeping the world’s largest retailer out of town. The measure, created in response to Wal-Mart’s plans to take over the former Kmart on Victoria Avenue, would ban any new store selling groceries that is larger than 90,000 square feet. A Walmart without groceries, however, would be allowed.
All it takes is one. At a pro-Measure B meeting Wednesday hosted by the League of Women Voters of Santa Barbara, it became more apparent that citizen ballot initiatives to lower building-height limits often have been reactions to buildings residents don’t like. In the 1920s, it was The Granada. In the 1960s, it was the nine-story condominium complexes proposed for the area that is now Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens. Now, it’s the Chapala One complex.
California’s cash-strapped state government would be virtually wallowing in piles of cash if a proposed wealth tax makes it to the ballot, is approved by voters and survives the usual lawsuits. Critics claim the proposal would be found to be unconstitutional.
The Walnut Creek City Council voted Tuesday to repeal its May approvals of the Broadway Plaza expansion project ”” set to house a Neiman Marcus store. This means the fate of the planned downtown Neiman store is in the hands of voters when they cast ballots Nov. 3 on Measure I. The council had little choice after a judge on Sept. 1 ordered the council to either place the referendums on the same ballot as Measure I or repeal their approvals. The referendums were based on the council’s approval in May of the Neiman Marcus project.
A group seeking to roll back Petaluma’s sewer rates has gathered enough signatures for the issue to be placed on a future election ballot. The county elections office certified that Petalumans for Fair Utility Rates, which sponsored a similar initiative last year, gathered 1,169 sufficient signatures from Petaluma voters. The group, led by retired pilot Jim Fitzgerald and former councilman Bryant Moynihan, needed 1,093 signatures and submitted a total of 1,579.
With the Schwarzenegger administration preparing to close up to 100 state parks, California’s top environmental groups are quietly putting together a ballot campaign they hope will turn the bad news into a renaissance for the state’s long-struggling park system.
Supporters of a plan to move the Del Puerto Health Center to a larger building at the Keystone Pacific Business Park filed a notice Monday to put the issue on the ballot. The City of Patterson Healthcare Expansion Act would amend the city’s zoning ordinance and a development agreement to allow the 11,000-square-foot health center at the business park in west Patterson. Spearheading the initiative is a group called Patterson Citizens for Expanded 21st Century Healthcare.
Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced that the proponents of a new initiative to legalize marijuana may begin collecting petition signatures for their measure. The proponents for this measure, Joe Rogoway, Omar Figueroa and James J. Clark, must collect signatures of 433,971 registered voters - or 5% of the total votes cast for governor in the 2006 gubernatorial election - in order to qualify it for the ballot. The proponents have 150 days to circulate petitions for this measure, meaning the signatures must be collected by February 5, 2010.
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge denied a request on Thursday by the AES power plant in Redondo Beach to reconsider a ruling that slightly modified the language in the city’s upcoming ballot measure. Judge David Yaffe refused to further alter the measure or reconsider his decision to rule against the plant in its argument that Measure UU would impose “double taxation” on residents. The measure will ask residents to change the city code to impose a tax on natural gas usage at AES, which is currently exempt as a utility.
With about a month left, a group bent on banning a new Wal-Mart in Redlands is close to having enough signatures for an Anti-Wal-Mart initiative to show up on a June 2010 ballot. The Good Neighbor Coalition is a Redlands-based volunteer organization trying to gather enough signatures of Redlands voters for an initiative that could ban Wal-Marts - and similar retailers - from building in Redlands. The group has until mid-October to gather signatures from at least 15 percent of Redlands’ registered voters for the initiative to appear on a ballot.
Months ago, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said it’s “time for a debate” on the legalization of marijuana in California. Now, some want to skip the debate and get to the legalization. Wednesday, the first of three initiatives seeking to effectively legalize marijuana possession, cultivation and sales entered circulation. While there seems to be a rising tide of support for such a state policy change, it remains wholly unclear if any of the three initiatives would garner support from a majority of the state’s voters. And, if one does, the potential impacts on Humboldt County are murky.
The only thing missing from this City Hall soap opera is a man with amnesia. After a political watchdog group said Tuesday that Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson has no financial stake in strong-mayor discussions before the City Council, the spokesman for the campaign behind the proposal called for City Attorney Eileen Teichert to recuse herself from all future discussions on the topic. “Her personal politics are getting in the way of doing what’s best for the city,” said Steve Maviglio, a volunteer spokesman for both the mayor and Sacramentans for Accountable Government.
You’ve heard that Equality California and other same-sex marriage groups suggest waiting until 2012 to ask California voters to approve same sex marriage. But don’t sleep on seeing a ballot measure in 2010 just yet. As we speak, the 700,000-member Courage Campaign is pumping more than $200,000 into researching and focus-grouping possible ballot language around California. Leading this effort is Steve Hildebrand, the Obama confidante and gay rights advocate who told us a while back that he’s ready to go back to the ballot ASAP.