ALPERN AT LARGE - For those of us who are just sick of politics after the heavily partisan and emotional political year that was 2012, we’ve got one fairly quick vote that—despite the confusion and mixed emotions that abound—is a potential vote for change that will determine whether this City will implement Change and avoid Bankruptcy.
PLEASE VOTE—here are some quick A-B-C’s for us all to consider:
First, of course, we start with “A”:
“A” as in Anyone but Wendy Greuel for Mayor, and as in Anyone but Dennis Zine for City Controller.
Greuel and Zine have so much fiscal blood on their hands that they need to go—a vote for them would be a vote for the “same old, same old” which we just can’t afford. The union money supporting them is as horrible as the incompetence and poor representation they’ve given us for the past decade…which MUST END!
“A” as in NO ON PROPOSITION A. “A” as in Avarice, Awful, Arrogant and Asinine.
Sales taxes aren’t always bad, such as with County Transportation Measures R (passed) and J (almost passed) which had fiscal benefits that were defined and transparent for voters to review, but this sales tax has none of that.
Proposition A may be great for the SEIU and IBEW, and for developers such as the Casden team, who want to trash Westside zoning laws and develop an automobile-focused monstrosity on the Westside (and kill the intent of the Expo Line), (Casden donated $50,000 to the Pro-Proposition A effort!) but it’s horrible for the rest of us.
Next, we move on to “B”:
“B” as in Bold, as in we need Bold Leadership, and leaders who are uncorrupted by ties to Downtown interests and union money spigots that have collectively left Angelenos crushed to the ground, with a number of figurative boots on their necks, and forcing us to live here but remain trapped, or to flee and leave our communities.
Mayoral Candidate Kevin James is the most bold, issue-focused, and serious candidate without the aforementioned fiscal blood that current and former City Councilmembers have, and is not only backed by former Mayor Richard Riordan, but quite possibly the only mayoral candidate that can keep us out of Bankruptcy.
“B” as in Brazeman for City Controller—we could do worse than his opponent Ron Galperin, and it’s certainly Anyone But Zine, yet Cary Brazeman is by far the most Bold in his attempts to clean up and make transparent our City budgeting and spending.
“B” as in Bonin for CD11 Councilmember—Mike Bonin is Bold and pushing for LAX modernization, without wasting $1 billion by trashing the northern airline terminals and southern Westchester, and he’ll both implement the construction of the Expo Line and MetroRail to LAX…and he’s already begun his fight against the Casden Monstrosity that will destroy much of the Westside.
Finally, on to “C”:
“C” as in “Change”, as in replacing the LAUSD Boardmembers who are too influenced by one of the nation’s most regressive unions—United Teachers Los Angeles—and are not sufficiently open to parent Choice (“C” as in Choice) and access to schools that ALL our children deserve.
We need reformers like Kate Anderson, Monica Garcia and Monica Ratliff to fix our schools. Some of their union-supported opponents are better than others, but overall the UTLA has been too focused on defending adults who need a pink slip (or perhaps jail) and not focused enough on the students and their parents.
And that’s it—as easy as A, B, C. See you at the polls, or do the absentee ballot thing…but be sure to vote! Our City and our schools need the representation we need to avoid Bankruptcy and create a better future for ourselves and our children.
(Ken Alpern is a Westside Village Zone Director and Boardmember of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected] This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. He also co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 11 Issue 18
Pub: Mar 1, 2013
