Leaders unite to fight Prop 98

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

A broad swath of community leaders joined yesterday afternoon to announce their united opposition to a ballot measure they argue would destroy rental protections, create environmental loopholes and load down courts with a flurry of frivolous lawsuits.
The subject of their ire is Proposition 98, a measure that will appear on the June 3 ballot. During a press conference at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse, elected officials, housing advocates and environmentalists said the initiative is merely a slate of hidden agendas disguised as an eminent domain measure.

“It has hidden provisions that eliminate renter protections and rent control, undermine environmental protections and threaten other laws that protect homeowners and our communities,” said Linda Phillips, president of the League of Women Voters of Santa Barbara.
Calling the proposition a “disaster for California” should it pass, Santa Barbara City Councilmember Helene Schneider emphasized the importance of voting in June to ensure the measure fails at the polls.
Low turnout is expected, she said, since the presidential primary has passed and the county supervisor seat in the First District, which includes Santa Barbara, is uncontested.
Voters will be less likely to turn out for an esoteric eminent domain issue, Schneider said. “But if it passes, boy will they be impacted.”
She said a similar measure adopted in Oregon resulted in 7,000 lawsuits in two years related to land-use issues created by the proposition.
“It was so bad there they had to overturn it and put another measure on the ballot two years later,” said Naomi Kovacs, executive director of the Citizens Planning Association.
“Proposition goes so against everything we stand for, we just had to come out in strong opposition to it,” she added.
At best, Kovacs said, the measure will confuse and circumvent the land-use planning process. At worst, she said, it will eviscerate that process and gut sound planning principles.
The coalition against Prop 98 includes the Chamber of Commerce, Sierra Club, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Gov. Pete Wilson, AARP and numerous other housing advocates, homeowners, environmentalists and public interest groups.
Tim Allison, a board member of the California League of Conservation Voters’ local chapter, said he is hard-pressed to think of another issue with such a broad base of opposition.
“This legislation provides such uncertainty that neither the opponents or proponents know what will happen if it passes,” he said. “…It looks like and sounds like it was written by developers for developers.”
To that end, David Mullinax, a spokesman for the regional chapter of the League of California Cities, noted that 90 percent of the financial backing for Prop 98 comes from apartment and mobile home complex owners who want to eliminate rent control and other protections.
He said the state has enough issues to face without dealing with a proposition that will tie up the courts and wreak fiscal havoc.
“If this passes, we’re going to lock down the state for many years to come,” Mullinax said.
Even as the group of community leaders bashed Prop 98, they held up another ballot measure, Proposition 99, as a shining example of an appropriate eminent domain measure.
Schneider said Prop 99 prohibits government from seizing private property to hand over to another private entity, using the example of taking a home to allow a private developer to build a mall.
“Hate 98 — 99 is fine,” she said.
Belen Seara, executive director of PUEBLO, said Prop 98 would have a negative impact on the ability to build affordable housing projects. She also noted the confusing layout of the ballot that places Prop 98 on the front and leaves Prop 99 on the back.
“[Prop] 99 is the real eminent domain proposition,” she said, urging voters to look over the entire ballot before making up their minds.
More than anything, leaders encouraged voters to learn more about the ballot propositions and turn out at the polls on June 3.
“It’s critical that the voters learn the facts about Prop 98,” Phillips said.