MEASURE D DEFEATED IN SANTA CRUZ COUNTY
SANTA CRUZ >> Voters in opposition to the Measure D Greenway Initiative took an early but commanding lead on Tuesday evening, as the county continues to weigh in on the hotly contested issue.
As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, that lead had only strengthened. With 30,340 total votes tallied, the Measure D “no” votes are 21,021 while the total votes in favor of Measure D are 8,580.
According to the county's election website, there are 167,659 registered voters in Santa Cruz County. Roughly 18% of those eligible voters have turned in a ballot so far. An estimated 35,250 vote by mail ballots received on Election Day still need to be processed. Additionally there are 171 same day/ conditional registration ballots and 22 provisional ballots that all need to be adjudicated, according to the website.
On Tuesday morning, Santa Cruz County Clerk Tricia Weber told the Sentinel she is “hopeful” that turnout will ultimately exceed 34.8%, which is the county's lowest recorded turnout percentage in a statewide primary. The clerk's office expects to share another round of vote totals at approximately 4 p.m. on Friday.
Mark Mesiti-Miller, co-chair of the No Way Greenway campaign committee, was overjoyed to see the results from initial returns. “These are obviously early results and anything can happen of course, but we're feeling pretty optimistic” he told the Sentinel on Tuesday evening. “I've lived here 40 years and have never seen a broad opposition rise up so quickly on anything ever.”
Mesiti-Miller spoke with the Sentinel from the No Way Greenway campaign election night party at Michael's on Main, where he estimated 70 people were in attendance. “Voters are again sending a clear message to the RTC that they want a future that includes a trail alongside the rail,” he said.
One of the attendees of No Way Greenway's party was Fred Keeley, who has a great deal of experience in Santa Cruz County governance and politics. Keeley served on the county's board of supervisors for eight years and in the state Assembly for a full term where he rose to speaker pro tem in 1996. He also served as the county's treasurer for 10 years.
“I thought it would be closer and it's not,” Keeley told the Sentinel on Wednesday morning.
Keeley said he believes the numbers paint a clear picture of how the county feels about Measure D. “It's a very clear and unambiguous statement by the voters that they want to pursue multiple options for transportation, transit and greenhouse gas
reductions in our community,” Keeley said. “I think this ends the debate about whether we're doing trail only or pursuing some kind of intercity rail while we are doing a world-class trail as well.”
The Sentinel reached out to pro trail leader Bud Colligan on Wednesday morning for his reaction to initial voting returns. Colligan directed the Sentinel to a statement from the YES Greenway campaign posted on its website Wednesday morning. In the statement, the YES Greenway campaign says it does not believe Measure D will pass and that it is now up to the Regional Transportation Commission to move forward with a plan for the rail corridor.
The Measure D Greenway Initiative aimed to change Santa Cruz County's General Plan by adding language that supports development of a multi use trail in place of where the Santa Cruz Branch Line Corridor currently is. The corridor includes a rail line that is 32 miles long and the initiative focuses on stretches of rail between Watsonville and the San Lorenzo Bridge in the City of Santa Cruz, according to the county election website.
The initiative's vision required removal of the rail line in order to replace it with a trail through a federal process called “railbanking.” According to the initiative's text, the trail would include two lanes of wheeled traffic on a paved path, a divider and a separate walkway for pedestrians.
While the general plan outlines long term land use development and growth in unincorporated county areas, the Branch Rail Line is currently owned by the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission. According to an impartial analysis from county counsel, the general plan is simply a planning document and does not mandate that the proposed infrastructure be built. The analysis also notes that the Regional Transportation Commission currently has a plan that includes development of a trail next to the rail, known as “rail with trail.”
Last month, the transportation commission met to discuss 2016 Measure D revenue programming that impacted segments of the rail line. The committee declined to state a preference for rail or trail and instead adopted an “alternative” programming resolution that funded the more expensive development scenario. The move was supported by the committee in light of the June 7 election.