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PUBLIC
POLICY ISSUES: TRANSPORTATION Satisfaction with the county's freeways continues to show no improvement. In 1999, 25% say the current system is satisfactory, 51% want lanes added, and 24% want new freeways built. This year's numbers represent no change in freeway satisfaction from 1996, 1997 and 1998. Regional discrepancies persist, with residents more satisfied in the South County than in the North (30% to 23%). Twenty-two percent of employed residents say they experience major traffic problems during their commute, 42% encounter some problems and 36% say they have no problems. Once again, the trend here indicates no improvement in traffic perceptions in recent years. Workers in the North County are more likely than those in the South to say traffic congestion is a great problem during their commute (24% to 18%). Measure M projects remain highly popular. Three in four residents say they are satisfied with the way Measure M funds are being spent, with 17% very satisfied and 58% somewhat satisfied. Seventeen percent are not satisfied and 8% have no opinion. Once again, there are no signs of improvement in transportation attitudes in recent years. Compared to the 1992 survey, however, the number who are satisfied has increased by 27 points (48% to 75%), the number who are not satisfied has declined by 9 points (26% to 17%), and the number with no opinion has fallen by 18 points (26% to 8%). Fifty-seven percent of residents say they would vote yes on a ballot measure to extend the Measure M half-cent sales tax—which is set to expire in 2011— another 20 years to fund transportation projects in Orange County. Thirty-seven percent would vote against the sales tax extension. There are no differences between North and South County. Latinos (69%) are more likely to favor the sales tax extension than are non-Hispanic whites (54%). The majority of registered voters (55%) would vote in favor of the Measure M sales tax extension, with Democrats (63%) much more supportive than Republicans (49%). Still, this is well short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass the sales tax extension. Only 43% of residents favor a proposal to make it possible to pass local sales taxes for transportation projects with a simple majority instead of a two-thirds vote, while 51% are opposed. This proposal has less than majority support in both the North (43%) and South County (44%), and among Latinos (48%) and non-Hispanic whites (44%) alike. Fewer than half of voters (42%), including both Democrats (49%) and Republicans (40%), would vote yes. At this point, residents are more amenable to lowering the super-majority vote requirement for passing school bonds than for transportation sales taxes (52% to 43%).
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