Mar 6, 2007

Poll: Bond measures favored

Firm recommends postponing vote until Nov. 2008 elections

By Kristina Peterson / Daily News Staff Writer

A potential bond measure that would raise funds for two major city projects garnered support from a solid majority of Palo Alto residents, but does not appear to have the critical two-thirds backing it would need to pass during an election, according to a poll released Monday.

In a survey of 600 residents conducted in late February, 59 percent of respondents said they would either "probably" or "definitely" support a $95 million bond measure to build new public safety and library buildings.

A slightly higher number, 63 percent, supported a $45 million bond measure just to build a new Mitchell Park library and improve other branches. Fewer residents, 57 percent, supported a $50 million bond measure that would go solely toward constructing a new police headquarters.

"These numbers are not that far below what they need to be," said David Metz, senior vice president of Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates, the firm that conducted the poll, at a City Council study session on Monday night.

Metz said as a rule of thumb, early public support should hover around the crucial two-thirds supermajority needed to pass a ballot measure because enthusiasm often wanes during a long bond campaign.

Similarly, if 40 percent of residents say they will "definitely" vote yes, the measure has a good chance of getting the core support to push it through, Metz said. But only 29 percent of Palo Alto residents gave a "definite yes" answer to the combined bond measure in the poll.

"We recommend that you consider deferring (the vote) until the November 2008 election," Metz said, citing a larger voter turnout and more time to educate the public.

Fielding council members' questions on how to increase public support for the measure, Metz advised broadcasting the current buildings' shortcomings and focusing on how youth in particular could benefit from the improvements.

Council Member Judy Kleinberg said the public's increased support for improving Mitchell Park was not surprising.

"We've been discussing libraries much longer. And more people have personal experience with the library than with the police building," she said.

"It's a concrete option: the library, versus an abstract option: the public safety building," said Ray Bacchetti, a former member of the city's Blue Ribbon Task Force, which examined the police building's conditions.

Former Palo Alto mayor Vic Ojakian called the current police building "a disaster waiting to happen."

Supervising Deputy District Attorney Jay Boyarsky dismissed the myth that Palo Alto has no crime, and pressed the need for a new police building. But he also noted that the poll results were encouraging to him.

"I think these numbers reveal a great civic spirit in Palo Alto," he said.

The council will take action on the survey results on April 3.

E-mail Kristina Peterson at kpeterson@dailynewsgroup.com.