los angeles county and city measures, fall 2002

county measure a is a bond measure that would issue up to $250 million in bonds to pay for bring the natural history museum and other county museums to earthquake and fire standards (while requiring them to raise $250 million in private donations for the same, and providing 50% more free admission for student groups and children). nice goal, stupid way to fund it.

county measure b would impose a 3¢/ft² tax on buildings to maintain and expand the county trauma network. i really don't like the text of the measure (it is a heavy-handed play of the terrorism card), so i won't vote for it.

school measure k would allow the issue of $3.35 billion in bonds for a whole swath of school issues. schools good, bonds bad. sorry.

special reorganization f would split the san fernando valley off from the rest of the city of los angeles. although the valley is clearly getting the shaft by contributing more to the city than it gets back, at the end of the day i'd rather see the city united. i also have a hard time swallowing the argument that a distinct city government wouldn't widen the pool of bureaucracy, and eventually end up costing the city, as a whole, more money.

name the new city

• camelot
• mission valley
• rancho san fernando
• san fernando valley
• valley city

camelot? that's a joke, right? san fernando valley is the obvious choice, even if it is too damn long.

mayor

• david raymond hernandez, jr.
• benito benny bernal
• bruce john boyer
• henry duke divina
• mel wilson
• leonard shapiro
• jim summers
• marc strassman
• gregory eagle roberts
• keith stuart richman

clearly strassman has to be my guy here, even if he's running a whatevernuke-based site.

member of the city council, 12th district

• earl howard
• david molony
• victor n. viereck
• dion n. gazzaruso
• frank j. shieftel
• daryl a. sanchez
• carlos e. ferreyra

too hard to really distinguish between the candidates.

special reorganization h would split hollywood off from los angeles (and the valley) as a new city. same goes as for the valley. if they'd proposed to name the city hollywoodland, i might have felt differently.