Letters to the Editor: L.A. County voters made a big mistake passing Measure A
Thursday
Oct 1, 2013 at 12:01 AM
I am writing after three years living and working in Los Angeles County, and the latest example of how badly we’ve forgotten how to live in our own communities is Measure A, which passed in June. It will turn our most central neighborhoods into an all-residential area. The result will not be better or worse for the environment: it will be all about the numbers. Measure A is expected to make the county’s transportation budget about $400 million a year less.
I have spent my entire life in a family of farmers and gardeners, and I’ve spent my entire life fighting for fair and affordable access to nutritious food, clean air and water and the ability to make a profit from them. I’ve spoken eloquently and often about the effects of Measure A on this vital community fabric, and I remain committed to doing everything in my power to stop this measure from passing.
It’s time for this discussion to stop and for a real conversation on how we can have a healthy city and one that works for all of us.
This will be a new area of L.A. County that will bring with it new taxes, new rules and new government, and a new role for government. And there are going to be a lot of people who are going to be upset about it.
I am one of them and not going to hide that fact, and neither should you.
But when government can do more for us and take more from us by passing a measure that affects the character of our neighborhoods, as Measure A will, we have to wonder who is really getting a tax cut. And for the taxpayers who voted for A and for Measure R, who is their friend in government? Which is your neighbor?
As for my area, I won’t be affected by Measure A for some time. It affects the area around where my wife and I rent, and in any case, one of our sons lives in that area.
Our neighborhood has always been very healthy. A few years ago, a man from a nearby city who worked with his uncle on some irrigation projects was killed trying to save money by going through a neighborhood