Call it post-election politics: housing and transportation issues are set to dominate local government next year.
The county continues to grapple with high home prices, denser housing projects and traffic congestion. Affordability, or the lack of it, likely will fuel political debate about housing in 2005, whether politicians want to talk about it or not.
Housing affordability hit a 16-year low in July, with just 11% of Orange County residents able to afford a median-priced home, according to the California Association of Realtors. Affordability inched up to 13% in October.
It’s not just lower-income workers getting squeezed but middle class workers as well, including teachers, police officers and other public employees.
The ratio of home prices to median family income in the county has shot up to 8.6 in recent years,it was 4 in 1998,while the same ratio is 3 nationally, according to Chapman University.
Some cities are helping out the middle class with discounted workforce housing,a trend likely to continue and even expand in 2005. Workforce housing isn’t dirt cheap, but offers a modest price break to buyers who qualify.
John Laing Homes, part of Newport Beach’s WL Homes LLC, has been selling some workforce housing at the former Tustin Marine base.
If 2004 was any example, local politicians are as hesitant as ever to provide housing to those who can’t afford to buy a home or even rent. At least two cities, Mission Viejo and San Juan Capistrano, rejected affordable housing projects during the past several months.
Tied to affordability is an overall housing shortage in the county. With OC running out of green fields to transform into tract homes, cities are embracing housing projects in denser areas.
The redevelopment of the Tustin and El Toro bases is set to provide housing in 2005 and beyond.
As for El Toro, Irvine officials have zoned the land for some 3,500 homes and apartments, as well as shops and businesses. Much of the base is to be set aside as open space, under Irvine’s Great Park plan.
Early next year the Navy is set to auction off the land to developers.
Other key political issues on tap:
Transportation, namely traffic, is bound to come up again and again in 2005. Supporters of the proposed CenterLine light rail project are sure to continue lobbying officials for it, though some critics say it’s all but dead. CenterLine’s proponents failed to get federal funding in 2004 for their dream of running a train from John Wayne Airport to Santa Ana’s train depot, despite Congress recently passing a massive budget bill, which promised federal dollars for other local projects.
Rancho Mission Viejo LLC could face a battle with the city of Mission Viejo over its planned development in South County. The city recently filed suit against the county seeking more money for traffic improvements.
OC Treasurer John Moorlach lost a battle with supervisors over a boost in county employee pension benefits. Moorlach, who was a lone voice warning of a possible county bankruptcy in the early 1990s, says the county could face big problems with its pension obligations.
Lou Correa will look to make his mark as an OC supervisor after terming out as a state assemblyman from Santa Ana.
And Garden Grove’s Van Tran will be a Republican to watch after he became the first Vietnamese-American to be elected to the state Legislature.
City to watch: Santa Ana
Santa Ana enters 2005 straddling some fault lines.
Democrats have dominated government in the county’s most populous and overwhelming Hispanic city. They still do, under Mayor Miguel Pulido, who easily was re-elected in November.
But now Pulido sits besides a newcomer, Republican councilman Carlos Bustamante. He defeated a Pulido-backed candidate for an open seat in the city’s Ward 3 north of 17th Street.
Bustamente has the backing of three other members on the seven-seat council, including moderate Democrat Claudia Alvarez.
Some are interpreting the shift as a challenge to Pulido’s long-running influence over the city. Like Pulido, Bustamente is youthful and charismatic.
Santa Ana’s bigger divide is set to come to a head in April. That’s when voters are set to weigh in on a 37-story office tower proposed by Mike Harrah’s Santa Ana-based Caribou Industries Inc.
The council approved the tower,which would be the county’s tallest,earlier this year. Opponents then gathered enough signatures to put the issue to a vote. Expect a contentious fight.
All the while, Santa Ana’s rejuvenation is set to continue next year. Construction is under way on the Santiago Street Lofts across from the Santa Ana Train Depot. High-rise condominiums are planned closer to John Wayne Airport but first must clear hurdles.
The development could spur more tensions. In the past year, sides were drawn between those who back the city’s embracing of art galleries, upscale restaurants and lofts, and those who favor keeping the city’s distinct Mexican character.
,Michael Lyster
POLITICIAN to watch: Curt Pringle
The tres caballeros of Orange County politics,Mayor Curt Pringle of Anaheim, Mayor Miguel Pulido of Santa Ana and Irvine Councilman Larry Agran (forced by term limits to give up the mayor’s title),head into 2005 promoting ambitious projects, confronting challenges and navigating controversy in their respective cities.
The one likely to grab the most attention is Pringle, the former California Assembly speaker who has brought a big-league brand of politics to Anaheim.
The pun’s intended,Pringle wants to stop Angels’ owner Arte Moreno from replacing Anaheim with Los Angeles in the team name; besides invoking what he says is an “ironclad” lease agreement, Pringle also has a formidable Rolodex,even the L.A. City Council opposes the name change.
On 800 acres surrounding Angel Stadium, Pringle is championing Platinum Triangle, a high-rise redevelopment plan that calls for 9,000 condos and apartments, 5 million square feet of offices and 2 million square feet of retail. Pringle is pitching both the Democrats and Republicans on choosing Anaheim for their 2008 presidential conventions.
At the grassroots, Pringle has reduced fees and red tape on homeowners and businesses. He wants to annex a county island of 9,000 residents on the city’s west side.
And putting far behind him a 1988 controversy over the posting of security guards at Latino polling sites in Santa Ana, Pringle has formed alliances with influential Hispanics. Richard Chavez joins Pringle and newly elected Lorri Galloway in a majority council coalition.
On a regional level, Pringle is backing road and rail projects. He pushed recent changes at the Orange County Transportation Authority that increase big-city board representation.
Not everyone applauds Pringle’s aggressiveness and deal-making. He’s been accused of heavy-handed tactics, and watchdogs monitor his busy government consulting practice for potential conflicts of interest.
It’s unlikely that the Anaheim mayor will be the last stop for a 45-year-old politician who retains close ties to Sacramento. But Pringle says he wants another term as mayor and dismisses speculation he’ll seek a statewide office in 2006.
,Rick Reiff
(Editor’s note: The city of Anaheim is an underwriter of Reiff’s “Inside OC” program on KOCE-TV.)
