JUST THE FACTS-While you have been struggling to make ends meet for you and your family, battling the ever increasing seven-day a week congestion and gridlock on our local freeways, your Los Angeles City Council has been at work coming up with ways to spend more of your money, reduce your protection as an American Citizen and continue to expose you to a substandard quality of life. (Photo left: City Council President Herb Wesson.)
Let’s begin with all the talk about increasing taxes in Los Angeles, especially the move to raise the sales tax to address our slow and cumbersome public transportation system. These elected officials want to improve public transportation by taking more of your money to increase the number of buses, trains and bicycle lanes. But these systems don’t serve most of the working people of Los Angeles. In all honesty, they mostly serve the transit dependent population.
Let me remind you of my own experiences with Metro’s Orange, Red and Blue Lines that I mentioned in a previous CityWatch article about taking public transit from the West Valley to a Dodger game. It began with the Orange Line and then to the Red Line that took me to Union Station where I took the Dodger Express Bus to the ballpark. Two and a half hours from the West Valley to Dodger Stadium. Not a very efficient means of transportation if you are on any kind of time schedule. There was also the pot-smoking man, the panhandler and the argument between a man and his wife or girlfriend on the transit line…not a pleasant experience to say the least.
We all know that we are always on earthquake watch in Los Angeles. While we frequently have small quakes all around Southern California, there is the constant concern that the “BIG ONE” will hit someday. The LA City Council recently passed a motion to require thousands of apartment owners to spend thousands of dollars to retrofit their buildings. Since the Governor scratched any form of tax credit for this safety measure, the cost will most likely be the responsibility of those renting units throughout Los Angeles. There goes another rent increase!
Then there’s guns and ammo. The wisdom of the two Paul Ks (Koretz and Krekorian—Photo right) has the council moving forward with an extra fee when you purchase a gun in Los Angeles. You will be forced to pay an extra $25 when purchasing a gun and between 2 to 5 cents extra for every round of ammo. Koretz, “anti” most things that are good for you, believes that the money can then be used for violence prevention programs. The problem is, the money will go into the deep dark hole at City Hall. And when it hits the bottom of that hole, it is lost forever.
The council has voted to permit cat owners the opportunity to enjoy the love and attention you can receive from five rather than three cats in your home. While we are on the subject of creatures, how about the council approving bee hives in your backyard? You can now raise bees along with your five cats.
While the LA City Council deals with these kinds of measures that have little impact on your life and happiness, the city continues to see significant increases in crime. Recent reports show Hollywood Division with a 21 percent increase in violent crime in the past year. In addition, aggravated assaults are up 36.8 percent.
While the council deals with feel good motions and ordinances, our streets remain riddled with an abundance of potholes and the homeless population continues to grow throughout the city.
It is time for City Council to realize that they are wasting their time and our money by avoiding the real problems that negatively impact our city. With elections coming soon -- and if the council can’t get its act together with the millions of dollars promised to address important quality of life issues -- we can remove them from office.
With El Nino on the way to Los Angeles, it’s time to focus – let’s pay attention to the real problems negatively impacting our city.
(Dennis P. Zine is a 33 year member of the Los Angeles Police Department and former Vice-Chairman of the Elected Los Angeles City Charter Reform Commission, 12 year member of the Los Angeles City Council and current LAPD Reserve Officer. He writes Just the Facts for CityWatch. You can contact him at [email protected]) Edited for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 86
Pub: Oct 23, 2015
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