Arcadia's Measure Mayhem: Part I

Okay, we admit it. The Arcadia measure party started a long time ago, and we're crashing right now at the very end. We've been keeping an on the goings-on, but it must have been our lazy eye.

Regardless, Measure A and Measure B (Beware the pdf!) definitely merit some serious attention. Here's the deal.

Two years ago, the Arcadia City Council, acting as the Community Redevelopment Agency, and Rusnak began discussing an expansion to the Huntington Dr. dealership. The city had and has a significant interest in seeing the dealership expand: Rusnak is the single largest taxpayer in Arcadia and a larger dealership could double the amount of tax revenue pouring into city coffers.

As part of the proposed expansion, the CRA started negotiating with neighboring businesses for their property, or, as city documentation puts it, "began to assemble units of land," for the expansion. Their negotiations not so subtly suggested that unwilling properties would not be tolerated. Not surprisingly, local businesses were none too pleased and raised a stink that garnered national attention. While the CRA never actually employed eminent domain to force out current businesses, the threat came across strongly enough to provoke Measure A, an initiative sponsored by Manny Romero.

Romero, the owner of Rod's Grill, which sits across the street from Rusnak, marshaled anti-eminent domain abuse advocates and decided to tackle the dealership directly. Measure A essentially forbids anyone to conduct auto sales, repair, rental or the like on the stretch of Huntington where his store is situated. Further, it demands existing auto-related business to cease within a two year period. Curiously, eminent domain abuse appears nowhere in the measure.

After Romero's initial opposition, the city and Rusnak modified their plans to exclude his property, and continued acquiring other plots. When Measure A went on the ballot, the city faced the prospect of losing $1 million in tax revenue, as Rusnak warned he might have to leave the city if he couldn't expand (read: threatened he might have to leave), a prospect that could put a serious dent in funding for city services. In response, the city came up with Measure B, which expressly targets the question of eminent domain used for private gain. In terms that seem indisputable, the measure strips the CRA of the powers of eminent domain in any case where the condemned property would be handed over to a private developer. While this may seem like a slam-dunk initiative, we admit to being wary of any voluntary ceding of authority on the part of government officials. On the face of it, though, it certainly seems like a step in the right direction.

That's the background, briefly stated. Traci Katzer at the Pasadena Independent has an excellent article that covers the full history of this initiative battle. Be sure to check it out to get the full story. Coming up, we'll tackle some of the questions this battle raises:

• Did the city ever threaten to use eminent domain?
• Why is the city involved at all?
• Who are the good guys, the bad guys, hell the ugly guys?
  
• Most importantly, has have there been any Rod's Grill doorhangers?

Stay tuned, there's more to come.