HOLLISTER
– Measure G was overwhelmingly defeated in the election Tuesday
– ending more than a year of building tension and angst-filled
rhetoric in San Benito County.
HOLLISTER – Measure G was overwhelmingly defeated in the election Tuesday – ending more than a year of building tension and angst-filled rhetoric in San Benito County.
The measure was voted down 7,930 to 3,581 – a 69-percent to 31-percent margin. After the first group of precincts’ results came through, an anxious mood among initiative opponents turned to pure elation.
“This is a good thing tonight,” said San Juan Bautista rancher Joe Morris, at the Vault restaurant, where the No on Measure G committee held a party Tuesday night. “It’s going to put people in a much more relaxed mood, where minds can be open and looking toward what we really want.”
Measure G, initially called the Growth Control Initiative, was a plan drafted by a group of residents to preserve agricultural land in unincorporated San Benito County. Most controversially, it changed zoning of certain ag properties to highly restrict future development.
The authors of the initiative, calling themselves the Citizens for Responsible Growth, were surprised by the wide margin of defeat, according to Janet Brians, their designated spokesperson.
Though, she said, they don’t regret the effort.
“We certainly have raised the level of concern in the county, hopefully, about saving our prime farmland,” Brians said.
Brians believes the level of opposition to Measure G escalated in the past few weeks before the election. Why that happened, she said, “I don’t think I really have an especially good answer.”
Maybe it had something to do with the profusion of signs around town – more against the measure than for it – cropping up in recent weeks. Both campaigns hit high gear – with mailers, advertisements, phone calls to residents and rallies.
Both campaigns raised six-figure totals for their campaigns. The No campaign received contributions of more than $310,000. And the Yes campaign brought in about $115,000, about 80 percent of which came from out-of-county donors.
The No on Measure G committee remained confident, according to Annette Giacomazzi, chairperson of the campaign. They were concerned, mostly, when obstacles arose – such as a failed effort to enact the initiative through the courts.
“We never want outsiders to come back to San Benito County,” said Giacomazzi, from the Vault, as revelers in the background cheered to flashed election results on a TV screen. “We are the only ones that know how to do it well.”
San Juan resident Rebecca McGovern – the plaintiff in the court battle backed by environmental lawyers from Earthjustice – called the voters, “so very, very stupid.”
She said people will regret the vote when “ticky tacky homes” start sprouting along hillsides.
