177062 / 40.82% Yes votes ...... 256745 / 59.18% No votes

See Also: Index of all Propositions

The cross was constructed by the Mount Soledad Memorial Association [Association] and dedicated to military veterans in 1954. In 1991, the federal court ruled that the presence of the cross on public property violated the California Constitution. To cure the violation, the City sold a portion of parkland surrounding the cross to the Association. The City Charter requires that such a sale of parkland be authorized by a two-thirds vote of the electorate. The citizens of San Diego provided this authority in 1992 when 76% of the voters approved Proposition F, which authorized the City to sell a portion of Mount Soledad to maintain an historic war memorial.

The federal court subsequently found that the sale of the property to the Association violated provisions of the California Constitution prohibiting government support of religion. The City then conducted a second sale of parkland around the cross, this time by a competitive bid process. The Association was the highest bidder, and, after taking possession of the property, built a memorial composed of granite plaques honoring veterans. In a recent decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the conduct of the second sale to the Association violated the California Constitution. The decision also indicated that the sale itself may be void and that constitutional issues associated with the previous passage of Proposition F in 1992 may invalidate the proposition. This proposition is intended to cure these problems.

If two-thirds of the electorate vote "YES" for this proposition, the City will be authorized, but not required, to resell by open, competitive bid process a portion of parkland around the cross atop Mount Soledad. If the City acts on this authority and conducts a third sale of Mount Soledad parkland, the City first would lease the property around the veterans' memorial to the Association and then sell a portion of parkland around the cross and the memorial to the highest bidder. The Association's lease would not include any rights to the cross. The highest bidder would own the property subject to the Association's lease and would be free to choose whether to maintain the cross, remove the cross, or replace the cross with another appropriate monument. "Appropriate monument" means a replacement monument that would conform to regulatory restrictions such as zoning code requirements and would be suitable for placement immediately adjacent to the Association's veterans' memorial.

If two-thirds of the electorate do not approve this proposition, the City may be required to remove or relocate the cross to private property at another location to comply with the 1991 federal injunction prohibiting the presence of the cross on city-owned land.