Observations on Measure J: "Not Good".

While Mayor Antonio Villar campaigns for the sinking President Obama Administration in Florida, his goal of extending the half-cent sales tax for future transportation projects via Measure J, is garnering bipartisan opposition.

Mayor Villar would suffer a major legacy failure if Measure J fails to get a two-third vote.

Joseph Mailander at his self-title blog:

Is New York City's subway working? Parts are not, but the out-of-style bus system was the first public transit system to fire up after the catastrophe.  Let's continue to build light rail a piece at a time, and not use the excuse of jobs to put funding for this on the backs of the same urban poor who depend on mass transit.

Ron Kaye at his self-title blog:

My own view is that extending the one-half percent sales tax through 2069 just four years after we agreed to pay the Measure R transit tax for 30 years without knowing they would burn our money in just 10 years by borrowing against future revenue is premature and unnecessary.Worst of all, it’s just lines on a map — not a transit system, which requires high frequency of service and good connectivity to get you from where you are to where you want to go. That isn’t happening now with a million hours of bus services being cut and fares rising, making life even harder for the transit-dependent and the working poor

 Bus Rider Union via LA Streetblog:

Inconvenient truth #1: Measure J advances a corporate-driven, Disney-fying and gentrifying vision of the city at the expense of low wage workers and communities of color. Why would the Yes on J campaign receive enormous campaign contributions from the likes of multi-billion dollar companies like Westfield Corporation, NBC Universal, and AEG? Precisely because these companies see Measure J as integral to accelerating their vision of Los Angeles, where public transit’s primary role is to bring people to and from their corporate theme parks and malls. Real estate developers and Metro’s own Real Estate Department like Measure J because it “leverages development.”

Betty Pleasant in her recent "Soulvine Column":

 Absolutely not! NO, NO and NO. We voted a tax increase for this not so long ago and now the county has asking for some more?! With none of it going on the Crenshaw Line?! NO.

Influential African-American Leaders oppose Measure J via the San Marino Tribune

“Members of our community vividly remember Mayor Villaraigosa’s betrayal of the Leimert Park Village and Crenshaw community,” said Damien Goodmon, Chair of the Crenshaw Subway Coalition. “We have regularly sought compromise since May of 2011, but Villaraigosa has remained uninterested. Measure J is simply the latest form of disrespect. It is quite audacious to propose a $90 billion sales tax increase on South L.A. that returns not a penny for the transportation requests of our community.”The list of influential black leaders against Measure J includes: 3 of the 4 most recent South L.A. representatives on the MTA Board (Mark Ridley-Thomas, Bernard Parks and Nate Holden), the current Chair of the California Assembly Select Committee on Rail Transportation (Mike Davis), the newspaper with the largest verified circulation in Southern California’s black communities (Our Weekly), the largest and oldest democratic club in California (New Frontier Democratic Club), the lead columnists of each of the large black papers (Betty Pleasant, Dr. Anthony Samad, Larry Aubry and Dr. David Horne), former LA City Councilmember Bob Farrell, the Black Clergy Community & Labor Alliance, African-American Cultural Center, Council of Black Political Organizations, South LA Power Coalition and the California Friends of the African-American Caucus, among others.Mike Davis – CA 48th District Assemblyman & Chair of Assembly Select Committee on Rail Transportation: “Since previous promises still go unfulfilled, can we really trust this proposition?”Mark Ridley-Thomas – L.A. County 2nd District Supervisor & MTA Board Member: “In an environment where … people are asking, ‘Why are we being hit by so many different tax proposals?’ Measure J is nothing more than a distraction.”Bernard Parks – Los Angeles 8th District City Councilman & Former MTA Board Member: “Although I fully supported the passing of the original Measure R, this particular rendition of a tax extension, [Measure J], is not in the best interest of the community.”

Could the opposition to Measure J be a part of a growing backlash against a "Failure Mayor"?

Your thoughts ..............
Scott Johnson in CD 14