Prop. A backers celebrate its passage

By: KATHERINE MARKS - Staff Writer | Tuesday, November 23, 2004 10:21 PM PST ∞

POWAY ---- Backers of a measure to extend a countywide transportation tax celebrated their victory on Tuesday, three days after the measure eked out passage. "We've made some big promises to this community," Poway Mayor Mickey Cafagna told a group of about two dozen supporters of the measure, Proposition A, a sales-tax extension for transportation projects.

"We have to perform, we have to deliver," added Cafagna, who is the chairman of the board of the San Diego Association of Governments, the region's transportation planning agency, which backed the measure.

With more than a million votes tallied, the measure passed with 67 percent of the vote, barely surpassing the two-thirds majority needed to win by a margin of 3,400 votes. The success at the polls means that the half-penny sales tax, known as TransNet, will be extended for 40 years, starting in 2008.

Every major highway and freeway is slated to get money from the measure, as are local roads and the region's transit systems. Proponents say the tax is the backbone for the region's transportation system and helps levy federal and state money.

Local elected officials, business leaders and members of the private group that campaigned for Prop. A gathered just behind a park-and-ride.

Cafagna thanked groups that backed the measure, including Qualcomm, the Automobile Club of Southern California, the San Diego County Taxpayers Association and the League of Women Voters of San Diego County.

Supporters of the measure raised more than $2.5 million to campaign for its passage.

Opponents raised about $27,000. But they also had some big names on their side, including county Supervisors Dianne Jacob, Pam Slater-Price and Bill Horn and several prominent Republican politicians.

The politicians said 50 percent of the $14 billion in revenues expected from TransNet should go to the region's freeways and highways. The measure calls for about a third to go to highways and freeways, a third to public transportation and a third to local roads.

North County mayors have pledged to work for more improvements to local roads and highways during the next update of the region's transportation plan.

Alluding to the opposition and the effort to get the measure passed, Solana Beach Mayor Joe Kellejian told the crowd that "it's been a long road to get here, but all the hard work is worth it."

Kellejian is the chair of the association's transportation committee.

After the brief speeches, Tom Kelleher, a spokesman for the North County Transit District, said the site for the celebration was fitting.

Tuesday's victory celebration was held at the site of a future rapid bus transit station off Highway 56. The transit system will one day speed commuters from Escondido to downtown and the Sorrento Mesa area. The buses would share lanes in the center of the freeway with car-poolers and paying solo drivers.

Kelleher said that without TransNet, his district would have to operate on a bare-bones budget. "The passage of TransNet will allow us to improve our service," he said.

Gary Gallegos, the executive director of the San Diego Association of Governments, said that the two weeks of up-and-down election results had been anxiety-inducing.

The percentage of voters approving Prop. A went up and down by 100ths of a percentage point each day as absentee and provisional ballots were tallied, and at one point the measure dipped below the 66.67 percent needed to pass.

Transportation measures passed in seven of the 10 California counties that had them on the ballot Nov. 2.

"Traffic congestion and how we move around continues to be a major issue not just for San Diego but for California," Gallegos said.

Local funding will be even more critical in the future as state and federal funds become more uncertain, he added.

"We've got to help ourselves," Gallegos said.

The original TransNet tax was approved by voters in November 1987 and was levied April 1, 1988. To date, the tax has generated more than $2 billion for transportation projects throughout the county.

It is expected to generate $3.3 billion by the time it expires in March 31, 2008.

Contact staff writer Katherine Marks at (760) 740-3529 or kmarks@nctimes.com.

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