Measure J
Taxed but not represented
Is this 1750, 1760 or 2012?
Is this a gathering storm of protest against Measure J or the Boston Tea Party? Are we members of the 13 colonies opposing policies that are as distant in priority and propriety as North America is from Great Britain or the noted historical epoch itself?
No, this is a protest against ballot Measure J. We are residents of the 15 city council districts in ardent opposition to what is a ballot measure that does not represent the expressed legitimate economic and safety needs of the Leimert Park and Park Mesa stakeholders and is, therefore, as distant as Los Angeles is from London.
We are mobilized with discontent and armed with righteous indignation. Yet the cry is still the same, the indignity is the same, the offense is the same, the disrespect is the same and, sadly, the result is still the same—taxation without representation!
While residents throughout the 15 council districts will be taxed to an aggregate $90 billion, not a penny will go toward a safe underground Leimert Park stop or tunnel in Park Mesa Heights on the Crenshaw/LAX Line.
During a panel discussion hosted by Dominique Diprima of radio station KJLH’s Front Page at Trinity Baptist Church that featured district attorney aspirant Jackie Lacey, California Assemblyman Mike Davis, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, state Senator Rod Wright, and Assemblyman Isadore Hall opinions were divided on the measure. Those for the measure, such as Congresswoman Waters, suggested that the opposition efforts are too little too late.
Waters also claimed, and I’m paraphrasing, that the outgoing mayor and some unnamed African American leaders, inclusive of preachers, cut a deal with the mayor’s expressed commitment to find and allocate the $300-plus million dollars for the desired Leimert/Park Mesa rail line project. Hence, current efforts would be better served by holding the mayor accountable to his promise and in the meantime approving this measure needed to complete this critical project.
Assemblyman Davis asked, “Since previous promises still go unfulfilled, can we really trust this proposition?” Both Assemblyman Davis and Senator Wright suggested that the defeat of Measure J will kick the measure back, triggering a renegotiation of its intended provisions.
Opposition to Measure J, however, is neither premised upon the hope for some esoteric unknown and possibly even unwritten mayoral promise nor the expectation of an renegotiated defeated measure. This is a principled opposition based upon the fact that Measure J is as old as this republic and as unfair today as it was in it origins—taxation without representation!
In deference to our esteemed congresswoman’s sentiments, it would behoove our Leimert Park and Park Mesa stakeholders to make sure that March 2013 mayoral aspirants agree in writing to the Leimert Park stop and the 11-block Park Mesa Heights underground project. In sum, vote no Measure J and demand that any 2013 mayoral candidate promise in writing an underground rail on Crenshaw and a Leimert Park station.
If there is to be a revolution of respect from which our children and we will benefit, we have to make it happen today. Vote No. Demand Respect!
The Rev. Lewis E. Logan II is the co-founder of Ruach Christian Community Fellowship, Los Angeles.
DISCLAIMER: The beliefs and viewpoints expressed in opinion pieces, letters to the editor, by columnists and/or contributing writers are not necessarily those of OurWeekly.
May brings us holidays from May 1 (May Day) through Memorial Day, May 27 (originally, Decoration Day), the preeminent celebration of loyalty and courage in America’s Civil War. In between May Day and Memorial Day, there is also Cinco de Mayo and the always adventurous Mother’s Day.
In fact, May hosts more than 25 distinctive political observances, including the annual Malcolm X birthday gala and festival (there’s also another Malcolm X festival held annually in April), held in most major urban areas in America.
The congressional hearings on May 8 may become the beginning of the end for Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Three credible eyewitnesses of the Benghazi consulate assault last Sept. 11, 2012, finally got to give their accounting of it. They had been kept from the FBI, all committees of Congress—Senate and House, media and anyone else in the world. It was through the Whistleblower Program that they came to tell the real story.
When Beyoncé Knowles sang the Etta James song “At Last” at President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration, the song could have had several meanings. At last, we have an African American president? At last, the muscle of the Black vote has been flexed? At last, there is some hope for our country to come together with the mantra “Yes We Can.”
“Oh what a tangled web we weave ….”
The Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, is starting to rear its ugly head. Many of us think the concept is dangerous and costly. What is evolving is that it is the worst thing to ever happen to the U.S. economy. Right now this is clear: the federal government has taken over our healthcare industry. It has taken it over without any expertise or clear strategy. Almost daily new horrors are popping up. My brothers and sisters we are about to emulate Sweden and Canada. Socialized medicine is coming to America.
Yikes! Just when you thought you had safely come to terms with Twitter, tweets and tweeting, let alone LinkedIn, Instagram, and seemingly hundreds of other digital headaches, here comes another one straight down the YouTube downloads, called Twerking.
