Voters Show Slow-Growth Tendencies

"Voters in Northern and Southern California voted consistently against growth in local measures during Tuesday’s special election. Slow-growth forces won 16 of 24 easily classifiable local ballot measures.

...Perhaps the closest-watched election was in Livermore, where Pardee Homes spent at least $3.2 million on its ballot measure to expand the city’s urban growth boundary by roughly 1,400 acres north of Interstate 580. Besides outspending its opponents by at least 30-to-1, Pardee threw numerous goodies into the proposal, including solar panels for every housing unit, a huge sports park, a 750-acre open space preserve, and additional money for schools.

Pardee’s over-the-top campaign appears to have backfired badly, as Livermore voters rejected the growth boundary initiative by nearly 3-to-1. They also re-elected slow-growth Mayor Marshall Kamena, who strongly opposed the Pardee project."

Thanks to Paul Shigley