Yorba Linda City Clerk Will Not Certify "Right to Vote" Initiative

In what appears to be a classic legal delay tactic on behalf of the City of Yorba Linda, City Clerk Kathy Mendoza will not certify the "Yorba Linda Right to Vote Amendment."  On advice from her independent legal counsel, the Clerk would not certify the petition, based on a 1999 Appellate Court interpretation of the State Election Code.

Rather than go into the complex details of the case and the actions of the City Clerk in this text, you can download the complete report at Yorba Linda Forum. 

Click on this link - Adobe PDF

Click on this link - HTML

Here's one interesting tidbit of information not in the report.  Michael G. Colantuono, the attorney who is representing Kathy Mendoza, is also legal counsel for the Sierra Madre Community Redevelopment Agency (AKA Sierra Madre City Council).  As you may or may not know, Tammy Gates, Yorba Linda City Manager, was the former City Manager of the City of Sierra Madre.

What does this all mean?

The continued delay tactics have assured the City that the Yorba Linda Right to Vote Amendment will not go to vote, most likely, until the June 6, 2006 primary election, thus allowing the City Council to approve the Town Center zoning package, as planned, in December without the voter approval process.

Should Yorba Lindans be dissatisfied with the Town Center zoning, their only choice to overturn a bad City Council decision would be through a referendum election, a process that requires signed petitions of 10% of the registered voters in the City.

What can you do?

This Tuesday, September 20, the Yorba Linda City Council will be deciding on whether or not to place the "Right to Vote Amendment" on the ballot.  We would greatly appreciate your attendance at Tuesday's meeting. We need to pack the Council chambers and let our elected officials know where they stand on this important "Right to Vote" issue.

Where:

Yorba Linda City Hall 4845 Casa Loma Ave. - Agenda - PDF

When:

Tuesday, September 20
6:30 PM (Please try to attend before 7 PM)

Be prepared to stay for some time.  This item is placed late on the agenda, so bring a book, magazine, etc.

The options available to the Council are as follows:

1. Accept the City Clerk's determination and take no further action.

2. Disregard the Clerk's determination and move forward with the directives and approvals necessary to place the initiative measure on the ballot, including direction on whether to prepare an analysis of the measure pursuant to Elections Code Section 9212.

3. Accept the Clerk's determination deeming the initiative petition to be invalid and place the measure on the ballot under the Council's authority to sponsor an initiative measure pursuant to Section 9222 of the Elections Code.

4. Move forward with the process for placing the initiative measure on the ballot and direct the City Attorney to seek declaratory relief from a court concerning the validity of the initiative petition prior to the election or following the election.

See you at City Council chambers on Tuesday and thank you so much for your continued support.

Yorba Linda Residents for Responsible Redevelopment

http://www.ylrrr.org