Font ResizeUPDATED: As of 7 a.m. Wednesday, Measure E passed 96,149 votes to 46,075 votes, with all precincts reporting.
A bond measure to bring facility upgrades to El Camino College near Torrance appeared headed for a decisive victory Tuesday night.
With 74 percent of the precincts reporting, Measure E had captured 66.5 percent of the votes cast across the South Bay. It needs 55 percent approval to pass.
A victory will allow the community college to finish the half of campus left untouched by a similar bond measure approved in 2002.
It paves the way for the campus to add a new gymnasium, swimming pool and classroom facilities; replace counseling and administrative buildings; and renovate a theater and library, among other projects.
Measure E, which will levy $350 million in property tax increases, boasted a wide base of support across the South Bay, including multiple city councils, chambers of commerce, K-12 school districts, as well as the South Bay Fire Chiefs Association and faculty union - although that last group offered its endorsement with some reluctance.
Among its few opponents was a contingent of Occupy Torrance protesters who gathered every week on Hawthorne Boulevard. Their main complaint: the bond measure borrows money only for buildings, not educational programs.
Measure E will add $7 per $100,000 assessed value on top of the $17 already paid by area taxpayers for the 2002 bond measure. For
Most of the projects from the first bond measure - which called for $394 million in borrowing - are either newly finished or will soon come online.
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