Parks, water bond issue finds itself in a crowd

Millions of Californians spent the summer relaxing on public beaches, hiking in redwood parks and boating on lakes.

That is the message that environmentalists and other supporters of Proposition 84 -- a $5.4 billion bond measure on the Nov. 7 statewide ballot to fund parks and water projects -- want to get out. Why? They hope voters in seven weeks will make new investments for future generations.

But with 12 other measures on the ballot -- including $37 billion in four other bond proposals for highways, schools, affordable housing and flood control -- persuading voters to check "yes" could be a challenge, experts say.

"It's a tough election for initiatives this year. It's hard to get noticed," said pollster Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonpartisan research firm in San Francisco.

If approved by a majority of voters, the measure would raise $5.4 billion through the sale of general obligation bonds to shore up aging levees in San Francisco Bay's delta, build drinking water treatment plants, fund flood control, restore salmon runs and purchase new parklands from Lake Tahoe to Monterey Bay to Los Angeles. Roughly half the money would fund parks and half would fund water projects.

The measure qualified for the ballot after a coalition of 11 environmental groups turned in 632,000 signatures in April. The group includes the Nature Conservancy, California Audubon Society, Save-the-Redwoods League, Peninsula Open Space Trust and Big Sur Land Trust.

The supporters' argument is simple: Because California's population, driven largely by immigration, is growing by more than 500,000 people every year, the state must do all it can to preserve beaches, forests, rivers and streams before they are lost to sprawl. Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans reinforced the need for new spending to improve levees and flood control, they add.

"We're going to see huge population growth in the next 25 years," said Colleen Haggerty, a spokeswoman for the Yes on Proposition 84 campaign.

"Our investments in water management and water safety haven't been keeping up. And protecting land and beaches are important quality-of-life issues as population grows."

Critics complain that Prop. 84 includes money only to study new reservoirs, not to construct them. Some also note that state lawmakers have not provided enough funding for rangers to adequately staff the existing public lands.

"I want people to read it. It is misnamed. They put the words 'water supply' in the title, but there is no new water in it," said Bill Leonard, a former Republican state legislator from the San Bernardino area who serves on the state Board of Equalization. "It is unbelievably vague."

Supporters have won endorsements from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and a host of other groups, including the California Chamber of Commerce, Sierra Club, Silicon Valley Leadership Group, the NAACP and League of Women Voters.

Since 1928, when a $6 million parks bond measure created California's state parks system, voters have approved about two-thirds of parks bond measures put before them. Those measures have saved hundreds of thousands of Northern California acres, from the Cargill salt ponds in San Francisco Bay to sections of Big Basin Redwoods State Park.

"Without them, you'd see trophy houses all over the coast, and a lot of these forests would have been heavily logged and subdivided," said Brian Steen, executive director of Sempervirens Fund, a Los Altos group that buys redwood lands to expand state parks.

A poll three weeks ago by the Public Policy Institute showed Prop. 84 trailing, with 40 percent in support and 45 percent against. In the same poll, 59 percent of likely voters said the $43 billion price tag for all five bond measures on the ballot is too much.

Haggerty said that previous successful parks and water bond measures have been in similar straits, and that TV ads will begin airing this month.

"In concept, voters are very supportive of parks and water bonds," pollster Baldassare said. "But on a ballot that is full of expensive bond measures, it is finding itself in a difficult place."

PROPOSITION 84

Parks and water bond issue

WHAT IT WOULD DO: Proposition 84 would authorize $5.4 billion in general obligation bonds to pay for an array of projects across California. Most of the projects are related to improving water quality and supplies, flood control, parks, public access to natural resources and other areas.

VOTES TO PASS: Majority

SUPPORTERS: Environmental groups such as the Nature Conservancy, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Treasurer Phil Angelides, the East Bay Municipal Utility District, the Contra Costa Water District and other water agencies

OPPONENTS: Bill Leonard, former leader of state Senate Republicans and current member of the Board of Equalization; anti-tax and small-government advocates

WHERE FUNDS WOULD GO

• $1.525 billion: Drinking water treatment projects

• $928 million: Lakes, rivers, streams and fisheries conservation

• $800 million: Flood control and levee repair

• $580 million: Urban parks and city environmental projects

• $540 million: Beaches, bays and ocean conservation

• $500 million: State parks and museums

• $450 million: Forest, open space and wildlife conservation

• $65 million: Planning for new reservoirs and global warming impacts on water supply

• Total: $5.388 billion

Source: California Secretary of State's Office