Yountville Measure O kicked off November ballot

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Saturday, August 30, 2008

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By DAVID RYAN
Register City Editor

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Napa County Superior Court Judge Raymond Guadagni blocked Measure O from Yountville’s November ballot Thursday, ruling that it would interfere with the town’s administrative business.

Measure O, if passed, would have limited the town’s ability to go into debt by requiring a majority vote of the people if the town’s debt exceeds $5 million.

At a court hearing Thursday, Oakland-based attorney J. Leah Castella said that could mean routine purchases like fire engines or computers would find their way to voters because the town already hit its $5 million threshold under Measure O.

The measure would have been retroactive to the beginning of the year, before the Yountville Town Council approved the estimated $12 million town center project, which broke ground Aug. 5.

Napa-based attorney Elisabeth Frater argued the measure was legislative in nature, not targeted at the town center project and should be allowed to be placed on the ballot to preserve the power of the initiative process.

Guadagni disagreed, placing heavy weight on a state appeals court decision, City of San Diego v. Dunkl, that sets a precedent for rejecting a measure if it interferes with a municipality’s administrative business.

“Since Measure O seeks to curtail the town’s power to obtain financing for the town’s projects, it can only properly be characterized as administrative,” he wrote in his three-page ruling.

3 comment(s)

reality1 wrote on Aug 29, 2008 12:55 PM:

" Great! Now Yountville can move on, especially since its number one pest sent a "I'm feeling sorry for myself, I'm quitting politics, and I'm taking my ball and going home" letter to the local paper. "

musikluvr wrote on Aug 30, 2008 10:17 AM:

" This is America, isn't it? We can still place issues on the ballot, right? The people have the right to vote on issues, right? The public through the ballot process has the right to change or limit government, right?
Apparently not on every count.

What would have happened if the Proposition was rejected at the polls? The status quo, that is what! But no, activist judges relying on bad precedent are now making the law here in Napastan. But the good news is that judges must submit to reelection by the voters and we may remember this judge at reelection time. "

zaphod wrote on Sep 9, 2008 3:07 AM:

" The last comment is so wrong on so many levels - first, no you cannot just put anything on the ballot - think about it for just one second - do you want ballots for skinhead concerts in Yountville on the ballot? How about a measure to ban churches and promote pot growing instead of grapes? I mean seriously, don't say you can put every 'issue' on the ballot because some are patently illegal - as much as citizens are empowered over their governments (or not in the case of our current federal government) there is oversight built into the proposition process to curb excesses and check for illegalities by citizen lawmakers. "The public through the ballot process.." -- do you know this for a fact or are you just extrapolating 10th grade political science class? Please think again, yes you can certainly change or limit government, but perhaps not through the ballot process, maybe, lets see, by running for office? Try that one? I'm no expert on small town constitutional law but I would say my suggestion would fit the bill. Look, the system kicked in as it did, and it worked. Stop barking about it musikluvr and deal with it.

Second, this stupid republican talking point of 'activist judges', well wasn't it activist judges that brought us most of the civil rights we enjoy today? You may have forgotten things like desegregating schools, clean air and water, and yes even the ability to carry guns. Love it or hate it is our American system so stop acting like a little baby that didn't get your way because your parents said you can't do something.

Take a deep breath, and think before you type. "

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