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Click Here 49 °F Forecast | Road Cams Monday, February 2, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend January 11, 2004 Ashland residents in Precinct 2, one of the more affluent neighborhoods in the county, consistently support taxes. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Voices of the Vote: Precinct 2, Ashland ‘Above the boulevard,’ residents say the need to pass Measure 30 goes beyond politics as usual By JONEL ALECCIA Mail Tribune The road to Richard Presicci’s house climbs high into the Ashland hills, past mansions and bungalows and cars with bumper stickers that read "Peace Through Music" and "Free Tibet." In Ashland shorthand, Presicci, 52, and his wife and three kids live "above the boulevard," the half-cynical, half-envious nickname locals give to the ostensibly affluent part of town. His Grandview Drive home is within Jackson County voting Precinct 2, which last year approved the proposed Measure 28 tax increase 76.6 percent to 23.3 percent, nearly the largest margin in the region. The measure was soundly defeated in the county and the state. But in a neighborhood where 40 percent of residents make $50,000 to $200,000 annually, where nearly half have bachelor’s degrees or better and where the median value of a house was $247,300 in the 2000 U.S. Census, Measure 28 was not doomed. If it had been up to the 2,380 voters who live west of Siskiyou Boulevard between Morton Street and the city limits, the tax measure would have been a done deal. If they had their way, the state would not be facing this year’s Measure 30, a Feb. 3 referendum on an $800 million budget-balancing plan forged last summer by a conflicted Legislature. Advertisement But Measure 28 did fail and Measure 30 looms large. This year, Presicci and his neighbors say the state is agonizing again over a decision that should be a simple matter of paying a little more for the greater good. "I just come from a family where you don’t turn your back on this," said Presicci, an organizational development consultant. "And I don’t know what kind of family that would." Presicci says he believes predictions that schools, social services and public safety will suffer without the temporary income tax surcharge and other hikes in Measure 30. He said he and his wife, Elizabeth Presicci, 48, a financial planner, would happily pay nearly $400 a year more to balance the state budget and avoid deep cuts. At the same time, Presicci echoes the views of some opponents of the measure. He thinks the state and national tax systems are flawed, that legislators are too-easily influenced by special interests and that Measure 30 is a stopgap effort on the way to overhaul. "I don’t blame them for questioning this issue," Presicci said. "I just don’t think we can turn our backs on the need." That seems to be the view throughout Precinct 2, where a glance through a street directory reads like a who’s-who of current and former Ashland city officials, Southern Oregon University professors and social workers of all stripes. One of them is Ellen Craine, 54, who works for the Medford nonprofit agency Mediation Works. She figures she and her husband are among the lower echelon of neighborhood incomes; under Measure 30 they’d pay about $62 a year in increased taxes. But Craine said she does not share the distrust of government she sees in the anti-tax forces. "It feels like we’re in really desperate times," Craine said. "I see it as a stopgap measure. When the dike is leaking, you don’t argue about what the perfect material is to fill it. You just fill it." Like Craine, Precinct 2 resident Susan Powell believes that state legislators labored hard to come up with a workable budget plan. "I thought there was a lot of Republican obstructionism," said Powell, 57, who owns Pilaf restaurant and the Global Pantry World Food Co. "But in state government, I think they’re probably just local neighborhood people." That’s especially true in her neighborhood, which houses recently retired Sen. Lenn Hannon. "He lives down the street in a very modest house; he’s not one of those people with the 5,000-square-foot mansions," she said. It’s hard to find a resident of Precinct 2 planning to vote against Measure 30. A few people joked that those who do intend a "no" vote would never admit it to their neighbors. Instead, the prevailing sentiment is held by Ed Houghton, a 68-year-old retired SOU professor and father of two. He would pay about $185 a year under Measure 30. He worries about the tangible effects of cuts to public safety and schools. He also worries about the state’s downgraded bond rating and its position as the butt of "Doonesbury" cartoon jokes. "I quite frankly think that these people who are saying they’re opposed to (Measure 30) have their heads in the sand," said Houghton, who is a registered Independent and said he votes that way. "As far as I’m concerned, it’s a lose-lose situation for everyone." 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