Hide Article Text (OCR)
FROM 1Throughout the day, most voters leaving Rancho polling booths said cityhood was the way to go. Some said it was so clear-cut that election talkwasn’t a big over-the-fence topic. Voter turnout was just 25.5 percent. In Laguna Woods, where cityhood was hotly contested in March, voter turnout was 66.7 percent.“It’s a no-brainer,” said Lisa McKindley, 34, a nine-year resident who drives trac-tor-trailers for FedEx. She voted with her husband, John, at the Lago Santa Margarita Beach Club. “I never thought it was not going to happen.” John McKindley, 38, who also drives for FedEx, said he hoped local government would have more control over tax revenue. ‘‘We pay a tremendous amount of property taxes,” he said.Others voting for cityhood said it meant local politicians, rather than the Board of Supervisors, will decide local issues and will wield a stronger voice in the fight against anEL Toro airport.And for some, becoming a city will offer Rancho a chance to hire more police officers and build an intergenerational community center, which was central to Rae Ann Theobold’s vision of community.‘‘The young kids and the seniors need each other,” she said after casting her yes vote.Not everyone, of course, was convinced. Said Jean Salzer, who wanted Rancho to stay unincorporated: “I say why do we need more politics out here? We need less government.”In the coming months, one of the City Council’s most-pressing chores will be to unify thecity.During the incorporation drive, the core of the cityhood campaign organizers said the city couldn’t afford to include the communities outside of the Rancho development.Not until county officials said they would divert an additional $200,000 each year to the new city to cover those communities’ expenses did cityhood backers welcome the adjacent developments. At least some residents in Dove Canyon and Robinson Ranch, where more than 7,000 of the city’s 44,000 residents live, said they remained leery of cityhood for that reason or others.“We don’t need more police service. We get enough protection from being a gated com-^ munity,” said William Simmons of Dove Canyon after voting against cityhood. “We already have everything we need in Dove Canyon.“Any extra tax money canbe sent to the county. Thereare other places that need it,” said Simmons, who owns a toy store in Aliso Viejo. “(Cityhood) is just another layer ofgovernment.”Voters outside Rancho proper also reacted differently to the slate members, who worked numerous hours to get cityhood in front of the voters.H. LORREN AU JR./The Orange County RegisterO.C.'S NEWEST CITY: Rancho Santa Margarita rings in cityhood Jan. 1. Incorporation faced no organized opposition.“We wanted representation from Trabuco Canyon, so we voted for (Mike) Safranski,but we also felt that the founders of the cityhood effort deserved some credit, so we voted for most of the five, but not all,” said Rich La Mont of Robinson Ranch.Normally, council members sit for four years. But to line up Rancho’s elected officials with staggered election cycles, the top two vote-getters — Lewisand Gamble —- will serve terms of four years, 10 months. Thor, Thompson and Blais will serve for two years,10 months.Political consultants had warned the group that it would be tough getting all five elected. In the final days leading up to Tuesday’s election, a calm City Council campaign turnedPolitical signs showed up on posts and lawns — and thenVoters gave the reins to the five cityhood workers who campaignedtogether.mysteriously disappeared Sunday night. The sign swip-ers apparently didn’t play favorites. f . \“Everybody got clobbered,” said Thompson, estimatingthat 90 percent of the campaign signs were taken down.“It was kind of nice,” he said, chuckling, adding that Rancho isn’t a community keen on the clutter of politicalsigns. “There were way too many signs up.”There were two signs that no one could take down. A political action committee supporting cityhood and the slate hired a truck to cruise around Rancho with a huge billboard listing the slate members’ names. It worked the streets from Friday night through Tuesday.And Sunday, the PAC sent a small airplane circling from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday towing a pro-slate banner.“I was hoping it would stay kind of small-town,” said nonslate candidate Shane Conway of the campaign.“But some candidates raised the bar.”This story was reported from The Orange County Register's Neighborhood Newsroom.
Newspaper Details
Santa Ana Orange County Register
Santa Ana, California, US
Wed, Nov 03, 1999
Page 10
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
CA, USA 20 Feb 2020
Other Publications Near Santa Ana, California
Santa Ana Pacific Weekly Blade
Santa Ana Excelsior
Santa Ana News
Santa Ana Evening Blade
Santa Ana Orange County Register Evening
