city of los angeles

the Mexican Jewish Queer Latina Angelina Voting Guide

Feeling overwhelmed by this year’s ballot measures? Me fucking too. But I care a lot about this stupidly gorgeous, ghetto blaster town that I’m from so, I decided to bite the bullet and figure out what’s going on on this year’s ballot. I did some research have been listening to local debates on NPR and decided to share my decisions with you. I also used a few Voting Guides including L.A. Times, NPR, The Democratic Voter Guide, The Latino Voting Guide but I did my own independent research; using that Official Election guide massive booklet we all got, plus a little googling, reading, and consideration. These decisions are just my humble opinion – I definitely recommend doing your own research, there’s some weird ones on the list this year.

Thanks for reading and please vote… like omg, please do it, and maybe get a friend to do it too… things are crazy out there in the non-internet… peeps are angry, I mean and the t-shirts have gotten out of control – so angry…

President: Hillary Clinton

United States Senator: Kamala Harris

United States Representative: Adam B. Schiff

Member of the State Assembly: Ardy Kassakhian

Judge of the Superior Court Office No. 11: Debra R. Archuleta

Judge of the Superior Court Office No. 42: Efrain Matthew Aceves

Judge of the Superior Court Office No. 84: Susan Jung Townsend

Judge of the Superior Court Office No. 158: Kim L. Nguyen

Prop 51, School Facility Bonds: No

Prop 52, Medical for Private Hospital fees: Abstaining

Prop 53: Public vote of Revenue Bonds: No

Prop 54: Changes in Legislation Process: No

Prop 55: Tax on High Incomes: Yes

Prop 56: Tobacco Tax: yes

Prop 57: Parole, and Sentencing: Yes

Prop 58: English Language Education: English Language Education: Yes

Prop 59: Citizens United Advisory: Yes

Prop 60, Condoms: No

Prop 61: Prescription Drug Costs: No

Prop 62: Abolish Death Penalty: Yes

Prop 63: Gun and Ammunition sales: Yes

Prop 64: Making Recreational Marijuana Legal: Yes

Prop 65: Carry out bag fees: N

Prop 66: Death Penalty procedures: No

Prop 67: Plastic Bag Ban: Yes

County Measure A Money for Parks: Yes

County Measure M Metro Funding: Yes

Prop HHH Homelessness Initiative: Yes

Initiative Ordanince JJJ: Yes

Charter Amendment RRR: No

Charter Amendment SSS: Yes

Prop CC: Yes

Use this as you wish – just remember this is my humble local opinion.

Thanks again!

Wait we’re voting again? YES.

CITIZENS OF LOS ANGELES hear ye hear ye

It’s become somewhat of a tradition for me to do a Los Angeles voting guide in order to support people who want to vote but are busy, and to just share info I found.

I ALSO write it to get more residents of Los Angeles to face the city’s needs and respond to them. I get that sharing news on Facebook is dramatic and exciting and you feel like you’re part of it, but honestly – are you helping? Sure you’re spreading the word, but then what? Awareness is not prevention.

Care for the city you live in by treating it as you would your hometown. Sure your grandma doesn’t live here but my abuelita does, and my family goes to school here. An election for School Board Members is the opposite of glamorous yes, but they are important people in the community you live in. Think about your neighbors’ kids, the son of the manager of your fav Thai place or that school you eat brunch across the street from- think about Africa, the mentally ill homeless man who was killed yesterday by LAPD.

“Over the last decade, voter participation in city elections has ranged from 10% to 34%. It’s bad for democracy — and it empowers special interest groups — when so few Angelenos are making the decisions for everyone” – Los Angeles Times’ Editorial Board

Please remember these are my humble opinions (which I found out just now perfectly match LA Times – see below) and you should research and come to your own conclusions.

Charter Amendments 1 & 2: YES **this ammendment wasliterally written to help oost the number of voters in local elections… nuff saqid

City Council (which district am I?)

City Council District 2: Paul Krekorian

City Council District 4. Sheila Irani

City Council District 6: Cindy Montañez

City Council District 8: Marqueece Harris-Dawson

City Council District 10: Herb Wesson

City Council District 12: Mitchell Englander

City Council District 14: Gloria Molina

Board of Education

Board of Education District 3: Tamar Galatzan

Board of Education District 5: Andrew Thomas (most of us live in this district, Silverlake Echo Park etc)

Board of Education District 7: Richard Vladovic

Community College District Seats

Community College District seat 1: Andra Hoffman

Community College District seat 3: Sydney Kamlager

Community College District seat 5: Scott Svonkin

Community College District seat 7: Mike Fong

TIME TO VOOOOOOTEEEE L.A.!

Just in case you are as “huh” as I am about voting I did a bit of research this year and decided to share my results.

and please don’t forget, these are my humble opinions.

thanks!

Jerry Brown
Gavin Newsom
Alex Padilla
Betty T. Yee
John Chang
Kamala D. Harris
Dave Jones
Jerome E. Horton
Ted Lieu
Sandra Fluke
Al Muratsuchi

yes to justices

Jacqueline H. Lewis
Andrew M. Stein
Tom Torakson
Jeffrey Prang
Jim McDonnell

YES on:
1, 2, 45, 47, 48, T & U

NO on:
46 & P

If a Mayoral Race happens in Los Angeles and no one is around to vote on it, does it happen?

or “Wait… we’re voting on stuff?”

The primaries for our Mayoral race is tomorrow and I’ve barely heard a tweet about it. While searching online a week ago for any videos or information about who to vote for in this upcoming election I was baffled to find… none. ‘Cept this:

Click here to watch, maybe we can make the views go past 200!

This is the worst organization of any event I have ever seen – highlight of the video at 1:12 when the guys starts singing to fill time while Jan Perry puts her giant purse down… also the 12 year old moderator in his uncle’s suit.

Now, thankfully, there’s more stuff online, here’s a recent debate which took me over 20 minutes to find online… that’s like 50 years in “2000’s time.”

Lucky for me, I’m a registered voter* and I receive TONS of pamphlets and leaflets in my mailbox everyday; not only about the Mayoral candidates, but about the other candidates running for the various other offices. That plus some excessive google-ing has helped me to decide who to vote for this March, and I thought I’d share my choices:

there ya go, but If you’d like more info, PLEASE read on.

WHAT ARE WE VOTING FOR?

Mayor
City Attorney
Controller
LAUSD Board of Education
LA City Community College District Board of Trustees, Seats 2, 4 and 6

WHAT THE FUCK ARE THOSE THINGS?

Mayor – duh, read a book. Our current Mayor is Antonio Villaraigosa
City Attorney – “an elected official whose job is to prosecute all of the misdemeanor criminal and civil offenses within the city of Los Angeles. In addition, the City Attorney litigates all civil actions on behalf of the City and represents the City, its boards and officers in all civil trials and legal proceedings in local, state, and federal court.” – Attorney.LAcity.org Our current City Attorney is Carmen Trutanich
Controller – “is the taxpayers’ watchdog and the City’s chief auditor and accountant. The Controller’s job is to investigate and publicly report problems with city departments” – Controller.LAcity.org Our current Controller is Wendy Greuel
LAUSD Board of Education Member – “is the governing, policy-making body of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Members of the Board make decisions on matters relating to public education in the City of Los Angeles and several surrounding communities” – LAschoolboard.org
L.A. Community College District Board of Trustees – no idea… I’m assuming it’s like the LAUSD Board for Education, here’s the website, maybe you can find something
Prop A & B – I’ll get to these at the end…

WHO IS RUNNING? I’ll just go over the big ones… sorry but there’s just not enough time!

Mayor / All are democrats except for Kevin James, a Republican

Jan Perry – LA City Councilwoman
Emanuel Alberto Pleitez – Technology Company Executive
Eric Garcetti – LA City Councilman
Wendy J. Greuel – LA City Controller
Kevin James – Radio Broadcaster / Attorney

City Attorney

Carmen “Nuch” Trutanich – Current City Attorney
Noel Weiss – Attorney / Community Advocate
Mike Feuer – Assembly Member / Public Interest Attorney

Controller

Ankur Patel – Student labor Organizer
Ron Galperin – Efficiency Commissioner / Businessman
Dennis P. Zine – L.A. City Councilman
Analilia Joya – Disability Advocate / Teacher

Now, let’s go over information I’ve found out, one section at a time. This is based according to my assessment of the videos and news I’ve digested:

Mayor / We’ve never had a female, openly gay man NOR a Jewish Mayor in LA.

Jan Perry – Jewish! I had no idea… / Currently not doing a great job in city council / does not advocate for the poor
Emanuel Alberto Pleitez – only true Latino running / 30 yrs old / hardcore grassroots campaigning / says Perry, Greuel and Garcetti “don’t deserve a promotion” / is literally running 20 miles a day, going door to door meeting people and shaking hands
Eric Garcetti – very educated and well traveled / plays up his Latino roots (he is either half or a quarter Mexican sources say) but is from a wealthy family who grew up in Encino / supported by Mayor Bloomberg’s super pac / is said to be indecisive / was president of LA’s city council for the last 6 years (as he let hollywood loose most of it’s work to other states…) / one of the highest paid member of any city council in USA
Wendy J. Greuel – worked with former Mayor Tom Bradley beginning in her 20’s / originally from the valley where she worked at her father’s small business / accused of “working for the DWP” because the unions have funded her campaign / has snubbed local papers’ requests for her public emails and documents although, it does take notoriously long to get anything in the gov.
Kevin James – Former radio broadcaster & Attorney / openly gay (yes, a gay Republican) / tolerant of cannabis laws / argues that, “city hall is broken, and they [Perry, Greuel and Garcetti] broke it” / inexperienced and a long shot, but a deff outsider to our corrupt system

City Attorney

Carmen “Nuch” Trutanich – lied about his term as city attorney and now he has to run for hi own office in order to keep his job haha / would rather go after Cannabis Dispensaries then dangerous criminals / refused to take a pay cut while his office has a higher salary than the mayor AND Attorneys across Los Angeles are being laid off
Noel Weiss – Attorney / Community Advocate
Mike Feuer – Assembly Member / Public Interest Attorney / started the city’s 311 program / endorsed by democrats, LA Times, Los Angeles and by Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein

Controller

Ankur Patel – very unknown but has good ideas
Ron Galperin – the one to beat / endorsed by LA Times and former City Controller Laura Chick
Dennis P. Zine – part of a corrupt system
Analilia Joya – another long shot

LAUSD Board Member District #2

Monica Garcia – hated by most LAUSD teachers / was endorsed by the LA Times yet even they say, “it’s only because there is no one else,” not because they think she’ll do a good job
Isabel Vazquez – the only option to vote for really

Plan A is not supported by ANY of the candidates for Mayor. It’s is a silly tax height which will only effect the lower and middle classes.

Plan B is hella confusing…

So after some careful calculating and thinking, these are my endorsements:

Mayor – Wendy Greuel

City Attorney – Mike Feuer

Controller – Ron Galperin

LAUSD Board Member District #2 – Isabel Vazquez

Member of the Board of Trustees, Seat No. 2 – Mike Eng

Member of the Board of Trustees, Seat No. 4 – Ernest Henry Moreno

Member of the Board of Trustees, Seat No. 6 – David Vela

NO on both PLAN A and B

Unfortunately as much as I’d like to vote for a less corrupt Mayor, I believe that Kevin James will just suck votes from Wendy Greuel and Garcetti. My vote, sadly is a realistic one. But if I had to vote otherwise, I think I’d pick Kevin James.

So, there you go. Now go vote!

It’s no big secret that the Los Angeles government is in a bit of shambles, failing educational systems, vigilante police officers, city council conspiracies, high unemployment and low high school graduation rates etc. It’s dismal but have we as Angelinos completely given up? No one believes that a government can be changed by its people anymore. If this is true then, sadly, our democratic system will fail soon; not because it doesn’t work, but because no one is looking at.

Angelinos and Angelinas, you should care about your city and care about yourselves….

*Lucky for you, YOU also have the right to vote.