A majority of voters in wards 3, 4 and 7 rejected the $25 million bond for parks improvements.
Ward 3 Councilwoman Holly Walquist had been the main proponent of the issue on city council, although a majority of voters in that ward rejected the referendum - as well as Walquist's bid for re-election. In Ward 3, there were 442 votes against the bond, and 398 in favor.
Councilman Van Pearlberg's Ward 4, which has the most registered voters of any ward in the city, also had the greatest turnout. There, 783 people voted against the parks bond, and 733 voted for it. Pearlberg favored putting the question to the public, but said he personally opposed a tax increase in an economic downturn.
Councilman Philip Goldstein's Ward 7 saw only 163 total votes cast on the parks bond, with 130 of those against. Goldstein opposed the bond.
Voters in Wards 1 and 5 took different positions on the issue than their elected representatives.
Annette Lewis, who represents Ward 1, had opposed the bond, though it was approved there, 89 votes to 79. And Councilman Anthony Coleman also opposed the question, although it passed there, 260 to 204. Coleman himself managed to avoid a runoff in his bid for reelection against challengers James Dodd Jr. and Chris Johnson.
Councilmen Jim King (Ward 6) and Grif Chalfant (Ward 2) were both personally in favor of the bond, and voters in their areas followed their leads.
Steve Imler, who served as treasurer of the citizens committee that worked to pass the bond, Progress Marietta, Inc., believed enough in the referendum to donate the first $5,000 to the campaign. That investment was well worth it, he said. A total of 4,779 votes were cast on the bond question.
"Eighty-five percent of people did not care, either way. They just didn't," he said, of the low voter turnout. Still, Imler believes even the skeptics will be won over in the end when they see how their parks will be improved.
"I think people will be glad this happened even if they were against it," he said.
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