Airport Initiative Clouds Policy

Sheriff Mike Carona’s recent reversal on a jail expansion shows just how much the sweeping anti-airport ballot initiative is clouding public policy on wider fronts.

The confusion also raises a question about unintended consequences: What if an initiative brought on some of the very problems it was designed to avoid?

The Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative is planned for the ballot next year. It would require a two-thirds vote of the public to build or expand airports, jails or hazardous waste landfills, and drew a sharp reaction from the new sheriff recently. He said he would not support its requirement for a vote to allow jails with more than 1,000 beds and within a half-mile of homes. He concluded therefore that he had no choice but to move ahead on a project to expand the James A. Musick Branch Jail from 1,100 beds.

The sheriff had been on record previously as looking to place a moratorium on the expansion. He has made much of his discussions during the campaigns and afterward with South County leaders in an effort to explore alternative jail sites.

His change arose from his stated concern that he might not have any place to put the additional beds the county has been shown in various studies to need. Therefore, he gave the go-ahead to environmental work on the project.

Initiative proponents correctly pointed to some of the nuances of their proposal. They explained that it would not prohibit the locating of a huge jail outside a residential area, and that it would permit an expansion at Musick if the cities of Lake Forest and Irvine agreed. Lake Forest Mayor Peter Herzog noted that the measure would not be subject to a vote if there were a court order or agreement similar to the settlement for the expansion of Theo Lacy Branch Jail.

Nuances like these can get lost in the big picture of ballot initiatives. The sheriff stands as a powerful force for the safety and security of the community. And as recent polling indicates, even though crime has dropped, residents retain their concern about its potential to affect their lives.

A big ballot initiative is a bit like a genie let out of a bottle. Those who rub the lamp hope he will move events in a particular direction, but one never knows which way his whims will blow.

So a ballot proposal aimed at building broad anti-airport support has become a somewhat complicating factor. There seemed to be a sure alliance between a new sheriff and a South County constituency. Proponents now have the sheriff’s reservation to add to the existing challenge of battling a campaign likely to portray this as a NIMBY (Not in My Backyard) proposal.