Local News in Brief : Countywide : Other Jail Initiative Effort Makes Progress

Santa Ana Mayor Dan Young said Friday that his proposed ballot initiative, which would prohibit the construction of new county jails inside city limits, has collected about 8,000 signatures in its first month, about 8% of the way toward its goal.

Young was joined at a press conference Friday by Curt Pringle, Republican candidate for the 72nd Assembly District, who turned over 3,000 signatures that had been collected by workers in his campaign. Young said volunteers working for his initiative had collected the other 5,000 signatures.

Supporters have about 5 months to get the needed total of 65,000 signatures, which will qualify the initiative for the next countywide ballot, in June, 1990. Young said the group’s goal is to collect 100,000 signatures so it has a cushion in case some names are disqualified by the registrar of voters office.

Young said he expects the signature gathering to pick up during the Christmas season, when volunteers will be at shopping malls.

Young’s effort is in response to a citizens’ initiative that has already qualified for the June, 1990, ballot and would require that all future jails be built in Santa Ana. He said the measure would require a 40-story jail in Santa Ana.

“We would quickly become a national cartoon,” he said. “We have to stop the centralized-jail initiative.”