Fire union wants to extinguish Greenlight

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH -- The Newport Beach Firefighters Assn. has joined

police union members in opposing Measure S, making the group the second

organization of city employees to come out against the slow-growth

measure on the November ballot.

Union officials said the measure, also known as the Greenlight

initiative, would jeopardize funding for road improvements needed to

ensure a quick response to a fire. The union has 94 members.

“We have a very sophisticated system in Newport Beach that allows our

firefighters and paramedics to re-sequence the signals in order to get

our emergency vehicles and crews where they are needed as quickly and

safely as possible,” said Rich Thomas, the union’s president. “Without

funds for systems like this and funds for future maintenance to existing

systems, our ability to respond rapidly to emergencies in Newport Beach

could be severely hampered.”

Measure S proposes to put developments that allow an increase of more

than 100 peak-hour car trips or dwelling units or 40,000 square feet over

the General Plan allowance before a citywide vote.

Opponents of the measure said many developers would not plan new

projects if they had to put them before voters for approval. Thus, the

city would lose out on the traffic improvements developers would have

make in conjunction with their projects.

“I think [the firefighters] recognize that Measure S is a risk that

they and the citizens of Newport Beach don’t want to take,” said Tom

Edwards, the co-chairman of Measure T. Also known as the Traffic Phasing

initiative, that measure would add parts of the city’s traffic phasing

ordinance to the city charter and nullify Greenlight, should voters

approve both measures in November.

“They understand that the taxpayers of Newport Beach will be left with

paying for road improvements,” said Edwards, adding that his group had

made presentations on both measures to the union.

Measure S supporters said Greenlight could actually raise more money

for traffic improvements than the traffic phasing ordinance currently in

place. Under that law, developers only have to pay for their “fair share”

of the traffic increase their projects create.

“They don’t pay for more [improvements] than they create,” said Phil

Arst, a spokesman for Measure S, adding that he could not understand why

the union had not contacted Greenlight supporters to hear their point of

view.

“If they had talked to us, they would have learned that Measure S can

raise more money [for traffic improvements] than Measure T,” Arst said.

He added that residents would not vote for a development unless it fully

funded the costs for traffic improvements.

Thomas said firefighters had felt comfortable to make a decision

without talking to supporters of Measure S.

“We are well aware of Greenlight and its implications,” Thomas said,

adding the union had already formed an opinion before any contact with

supporters for either measure.

In addition to the police and firefighters’ unions, the Newport Harbor

Area Chamber of Commerce has also endorsed Measure T.

Stop Polluting Our Newport, an environmental activist group, is the

only organization that has come out in support of Measure S so far.