Berkeley, Ca- There were no resounding victory bells, but many advocates of controversial city measures said they scored a symbolic win last night.

A crop of controversial city measures about marijuana, prostitution and trees on this year’s ballot did not pass, but none failed by a substantial margin, with the exception of Measure S, the Public Tree Act of 2004.

One of the most hotly contested measures on this year’s ballot, Measure Q, which would have made enforcement of prostitution laws the lowest priority, failed by a 66 percent margin with 53 percent of precincts reported.

Robyn Few, founder of the Sex Workers Outreach Project, anticipated before the election getting about 34 percent support. Regardless of the final vote count, Few was confident about the campaign.

“We have already won,” she said, referring to the dialogue that has generated considerable buzz nationwide. “We proved how important prostitution actually is.”

Few is working on expanding project chapters in Alabama and Nevada.

“That’s a good thing that it’s failing,” said Councilmember Miriam Hawley. “The way it was drafted was that it was going to decriminalize the whole thing, including the pimps.”

Measure R, The Patients Access to Medical Cannabis Act of 2004, showed one of the closest races, with 47 percent of voters voting to loosen restrictions on growth and 53 percent saying no, with 42 percent of precincts reported.

“I have no expectations at this time,” said Campaign Manager Dege Coutee, who preferred not to comment until official results were released.

Voters rejected the tree act by almost 80 percent, with 42 percent of precincts reported.

“I don’t really care about Measure S right now,” said the measure’s author, Elliot Cohen, saying he was more concerned about the national election.

“It’s a dumb idea in the first place,” said Councilmember Betty Olds. “It would have cost the city $325,000 in a year or two to implement it.”

Another strongly contested initiative, Measure H, which would have given the City Council the authority to implement public financing of election campaigns for mayoral, City Council, school board and auditor races, was failing-63 percent of voters signaled no on the measure, with 42 percent of precincts reported.

The measure would have required $498,000 in annual general funds for campaigns when deemed economically feasible by the council.

Campaign Manager Kenny Mostern said it was too early in the night to comment on results, but he was optimistic the measure would pass, pointing to 45,000 ballots that still needed tallying. The Alameda County Registrar had only reported on 10,000 absentee ballots as of 9:30 p.m.

“Most absentee ballots tend to run extremely conservative,” Mostern said, “Initial numbers reflect that.”

He said that it was hard to compete with the presidential election, saying volunteer efforts dwindled in the past few weeks. At a Measure H party, he said most attendees were huddled around the television watching the national election results.

Measure I passed with a substantial victory of 71 percent, with 42 percent of precincts reported. The initiative will move the date of the Berkeley mayoral election to coincide with that of the presidential election. The mayor elected in November 2006 will serve a two-year term. Thereafter, the mayor elected will serve a four-year term.