CommentsELECTION 2017--My name is David (Zuma Dogg) Saltsburg. I'm running for mayor of Los Angeles and I will be using all the mayoral campaign platforms allowed me to raise awareness of and to urge CityWatchLA readers to vote for … and get out the vote for … "Yes On S!"
My mayoral campaign is already a success because I get to write this article for CityWatch … whom I consider to be the front line of LA watchdog activism. I began my own LA watchdog(g) activism ten years ago and there are not nearly as many platforms for city activists as there were when I started.
I'm probably not going to say anything that CityWatch readers don't already know (many of you, who tell me what I know, know more than I do) but I'm a public figure and decided to get on the ballot. The people of LA need a voice a City Hall now more than ever. We need to be a CityWatch Army between now and March 7.
So, first of all, please do all you can to raise awareness that there is, indeed, a citywide election this March 7th. People are "electioned-out" and I'm fearful that if someone sees an election campaign sign they assume it's from the election we just had. So, with this local, under-the-radar election just letting people know the date of the election is a priority.
Secondly, I of course want you to vote for me and tell everyone else to vote for me because I believe I'm LA's only hope to keep this ship from sinking into something we no longer recognize. (Check out my video. See if you agree with me.)
Next, get out the #YesOnS vote. Tell everyone you know, "Yes on Measure S” … because even if LA skyscraper developer Eric Garcetti is re-elected, Measure S will prevent him from selling-out LA to China developers for a Shanghai Surprise on the city and its residents.
The skyscraper issue is central to many other issues people are outraged about:
Traffic gridlock getting worse. Skyscrapers cause more traffic jams. When they are being constructed and then when 1000 more people are living on street that isn't any wider and multiply this over a decade of Eric Garcetti's, "Smart Growth."
Garcetti actually said that the goal is to make traffic so bad, that people jump out of their cars and take mass transit. But these people moving into million dollar (plus) condos drive cars and are not going to hop out to take the bus or rail. We all know this.
The city has to STOP doing things to make traffic worse. Garcetti justifies that everyone is gonna take the bus, so he can sell out LA to China developers for Skyscraper City. New York and China were built around mass transit. Los Angeles was not and is not a city that lends itself to mass transit and I'm not gonna waste precious column space explaining why anymore because you know.
Skyscrapers also have driven up housing costs and the overall expense to live in LA and it has caused an increase in homelessness. And, when I say "increase" I mean we have a triple alarm emergency on the streets (sidewalks, actually) of Los Angeles -- and Garcetti and City Hall CONTINUE to ignore building affordable housing and are still all about skyscrapers.
If you flew in from another world and evaluated city hall you would think they are a skyscraper development firm. Do they do ANYTHING else? Sorry, Garshady; EVERYTHING needs to STOP and we need to address the homeless issue.
Even if you aren't caring or compassionate about homeless people, as a city we can't have encampments on sidewalks, all over. Does Garcetti think the Olympics are going to come here?
It is going to take new and innovative approaches in ways the city is not used to and has never done before. HHH isn't going to be a drip in the bucket in actual number of people off the streets; compared to how many we have (and more are coming). I met a company at a neighborhood council meeting that takes portable shipping containers and converts them into home units. I am IN LOVE with these units; and you can see a video, about them on my website).
All the density of skyscrapers taxes LA's infrastructure, way too much. Water is a limited (and increasingly expensive) resource. They say we don't have enough emergency response/police on the street as it is … and they keep on adding more skyscrapers that allow more people to jam into the area.
I am not of the belief that people are coming here, anyway so we have to keep building more and more and more and more luxury housing to accommodate. The community decides what kind of city they want and we don't want China or Manhattan. It won't work in LA because of geographic layout alone. I wasn't a science wiz but remember "Law of Diffusion." So, stop building skyscrapers and people will have to live their lives in other communities.
Can't have a bunch of millionaires zipping around LA in Maserati's while we the people have to walk in the streets because the sidewalks are filled with tent encampments. STOP THE MADNESS! Vote Yes on S. And Yes on Zuma Dogg!
(David (Zuma Dogg) Saltsburg is a candidate for Los Angeles mayor. He has been a community activist in Los Angles for more than 10 years successfully taking on City Hall on numerous occasions. Learn more here.)
-cw
Zuma Dogg Returns to LA Political Wars … Says the People Need a Voice
