Would We Fund the Ballona Restoration?

Last week, Bay Area voters approved a unique $12 per year parcel tax in all nine counties to fund wetlands restoration and flood control projects around San Francisco Bay's shoreline. The proposition will raise $25 million a year for 20 years, and passed with about 69% of the votes cast.

Key to the preservation of San Francisco Bay wildlife habitat, Measure AA will raise roughly $500 million over the next 20 years. This places it as the largest environmental measure ever approved in the Bay Area.

The measure was backed by environmental groups and opposed by mostly local taxpayer groups. The idea behind the measure was to provide a local source of funding toward the estimated $1.5 billion job of restoring thousands of acres of tidal marshlands around the bay, a much larger challenge than our own local 600-acre Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve.

As we await the release of the Environmental Impact Report for a Ballona Wetlands restoration, it's not too early to ponder from where the funds will come. A comprehensive restoration at Ballona, including removing a portion of the Ballona Creek flood control channel's concrete banks, could cost well over $100 million. Though some funding will likely come from existing state and federal sources, a shortfall would inevitably further delay a project already woefully behind schedule.

Perhaps local supporters of a Ballona restoration should start analyzing the case of Measure AA and begin planning a similar campaign, should funding be needed. The $100 million question is, would Los Angeles County voters approve a similar property tax for that purpose?