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Health & Fitness

The Way I See It... Elections 5/21

The way I see it…
 
As a long time CD13 resident, the upcoming election is a bit troubling. There are three major orders of business on the agenda… the next mayor of Los Angeles, the next city council representative for CD13, and the future of medical marijuana. In each of these races… and for simplicity’s sake, I’m referring to the battle between props D and F as a race… in all of these races, the best choice for the district is getting hugely outspent by the worse choice… who turned up with a bag full of special interest money to buy the election.

Mayoral race: There’s nothing I’m going to say here that hasn’t been said before. Ms. Greuel’s campaign is being bankrolled by the very unions city hall will need to bargain with in order for the city to remain fiscally solvent. Unfortunately, what’s best for the public employees’ unions is rarely, if ever, the best thing for the actual citizens of the city who end up footing the bill. The public employees’ unions currently wield the real power in the city, as they are the ‘kingmakers’ in city elections, throwing unmatchable money behind those candidates who agree to do their bidding.
 
Eric Garcetti is a highly intelligent, thoughtful person who has done great things for the district. I certainly disagree with much of what has come out of city hall while he’s been on the council, but moving forward, it’s obvious by the dollars spent propping up Ms. Greuel which candidate will be the most independent. My vote is for Eric Garcetti.


 CD13 race: This is going to be short and sweet, as there’s really only one choice for the district. Let me quickly sum up the two candidates, without using names…

Candidate A has a long track record in CD13, working for our current council person on countless projects near and dear to the hearts of residents. He is supported by the lion’s share of local businesses and ‘high information voters,’ and has a groundswell of support from within the local community… in fact the vast majority of his campaign’s contributions come from within the district.

Candidate B moved into the district somewhere around a year ago. He brought with him a suitcase full of money from special interests, almost ALL of it from outside the district and much of it from outside the city, and expects us to believe that he deeply cares about the district.

 See what I mean? There isn’t even a choice to make. What really makes my head spin, is that Candidate B (John Choi! Surprise!) has the audacity to imply that when people refer to him as an ‘outsider,’ it’s not about him moving into the district in order to qualify to run for the seat, but really xenophobia about his Korean-American heritage. I’ll be the first to stand up and tell Mr. Choi that in CD13, it doesn’t matter if you’re green with pink polka-dots… you belong here. But if you want to be seen as a guy who sincerely cares about the district, at the very least, serve on a neighborhood council for a few years before trying to buy the CD13 seat with outside money. My vote easily goes to Mitch O’Farrell.

Medical Marijuana: Again, this is an easy choice. Propositions D and F both claim they are going to fix the explosion of pot shops in the city. The reality is, one will actually regulate the industry, while the other is a thinly veiled attempt by those profiteers who knowingly opened up illegal, post-moratorium (after 2007) shops to be seen by the law as legitimate operators. Without going into the nitty-gritty details of each, the most important things to know are…

 Proposition D is written by the city of Los Angeles. It limits the number of pot shops to those registered before the 2007 moratorium, roughly 135. They will be taxed by the city and regulated. This is not a monopoly, as supporters of Prop F claim… this is actual regulation. Just like you can’t go and open a liquor store or pharmacy willy-nilly, you can’t go and open a pot shop without the correct permits and clearances. The fact that D is written by the city is important. It means that the city will actually support and defend it against federal interference.

 Proposition F is written by the lawyer of hundreds of these shops that have popped up on every corner of every intersection in the last few years. The supporters of F don’t seem to think there are too many shops currently… which probably number in the 1,300-1,500 range in the city. And yes, while the ‘No on D’ and ‘Yes on F’ campaign claims sound like Prop F is ‘by the people, for the people,’ it’s not. If Proposition F were to pass, we would be in the same nebulous limbo in which we find ourselves now. That’s because the City of LA doesn’t support it, and the city attorney will have no obligation to defend it against federal interference. So, there’s nothing to stop the US Attorney from shutting the whole thing down, just like they did in all of the surrounding cities.

 The only choice that will ensure that legitimate patients continue to have safe access to medical marijuana is Proposition D. Yes on D, No on F.

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