PROPOSITION P, THE CHARTER CITY PROPOSITION. WHY IT MATTERS AND WHY WE URGE YOU TO VOTE NO.
Escondido’s Future is a non-partisan, all volunteer organization with a mission to protect the quality of life for all Escondido residents, preserve our city’s heritage of community services and promote transparent and responsive city government through strategic advocacy. We urge you to VOTE NO on Proposition P—the City Charter Proposition—because:
Proposition P is Too Costly
1. As a charter city, the Council could increase their own non-salary benefits such as pay for involvement with commissions and boards, automobile allowances (now at $9,000/year with no receipts required), health and retirement benefits. This would mean fewer dollars for Quality of Life services.
2. As a charter city, the Council could eliminate competitive bidding and would not have to go with the lowest qualified bidder if they did have bidding. This could raise the cost of projects, decreasing the amount of money available for Quality of Life services.
3. Once the Charter is in place, any additions, deletions or changes will have to be put to a vote—each time costing the city’s residents tens of thousands of dollars that could have been used for Quality of Life services.
Proposition P is Too Risky
Several Charter Cities in California have filed for bankruptcy due to the lack of checks and balances. Is it worth risking our city’s Quality of Life?
Proposition P brings on Undesirable Change
1. As a charter city, the City Council would not have to pay prevailing wages on city construction projects, thus reducing wage rates within Escondido.
2. As a charter city, the Council could make zoning changes not allowed by the General Plan, thus circumventing the will of the people as expressed in the Growth Management and Neighborhood Protection Act, passed by 60 percent of the voters in 1998.
Escondido has been a general law city since 1888. It is not worth the risk to make these major changes without serious considerations and substantially more input from the public, the citizens of Escondido. We urge a NO vote on Proposition P.
PROPOSITION N, THE ESCONDIDO GENERAL PLAN UPDATE. WHY IT MATTERS AND WHY WE URGE YOU TO VOTE NO.
The mission of Escondido’s Future is “to protect the quality of life for all Escondido residents, preserve our city’s heritage of community services and promote transparent and responsive city government through strategic advocacy.” That is why we are taking a stand on Proposition N and urge you to vote NO.
Mention the General Plan Update to most people and their eyes glaze over. And that’s understandable. It’s a long, complicated document that lays out guidelines for development, zoning changes, Quality of Life standards and much more. We’ve studied the Plan and believe there are some good ideas in it. Unfortunately, there are some major flaws in Proposition N that could do great harm to our Quality of Life and thwart the will of the people.
Quality of Life and Development
In the General Plan Update (Proposition N) the population cap has been eliminated. Why does this matter? Because it makes it difficult to plan for Quality of Life services such as libraries, parks, recreation, schools, water and more. This may allow developers to build housing without providing or funding adequate services for the new residents, services that would then have to be paid for by the taxpayers.
Zoning changes and Will of the People
The power of citizens to decide will be taken away and vested in the hands of government. In 1998, nearly 60% of Escondido residents voted in favor of Proposition S, which requires approval parcel-by-parcel for changing land from residential uses to higher-density residential, office, commercial or industrial uses.
The proposed General Plan Update, Proposition N, changes zoning on 450 residential acres to commercial or industrial along with increasing density for 800 acres zoned commercial properties, asking for it all to be approved in a single vote. The right of the voters to make individual decisions on zoning has been replaced with Proposition N’s take it or leave approach of government bureaucrats.
Because the mission of Escondido’s Future is to protect the quality of life for all Escondido residents and promote responsive city government, we urge you to VOTE NO on PROPOSITION N, the General Plan Update.
ESCONDIDO PROPOSITIONS N AND P
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