Opinion: Proposition Prep: How to Vote on H and R, By Your Local Bloggers
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Over the last few weeks local blogs have broken down Los Angeles’ Propositions H and R, arguing for why you should vote one way or the other. H is for housing -- the affordable kind -- while R would extend City Council term limits.
In the pages of The Times, Martini Republic writer Joseph Mailander rails against Proposition H. At Martini Republic, he rails against The Times, likening the editorial in favor of Proposition H to a mayoral press release:
[The editorial contains the] Mayor’s talking points precisely: spell out ‘natural growth’ as an ungodly, relentless force of nature, not an opportunity to be tackled with gusto and verve by the City’s Planning Department.
Walter Moore at Mayor Sam agrees, calling The Times’ coverage ‘press release journalism’ and noting that the paper’s figures for an info-graphic on rising rental prices aren’t adjusted for inflation.
On the other side of the H debate are L.A. Voice and L.A.’s Homeless Blog. Joel John Roberts at the Homeless Blog shows his support for H and praises United Way -- which usually doesn’t endorse -- for taking a pro position. Dorit at L.A. Voice lists the many reasons why her neighborhood is better because she and her husband -- both working professionals -- got house-buying help they needed from the city:
During the nine years we have lived in our Silver Lake home, ...we have helped cleaned up the surrounding neighborhood, helped the police rid our street of drug dealers, fought the city to install a traffic light at a dangerous crosswalk, mentored local kids, organized the neighbors to fight for what we needed from the city and county.... All in all, by helping to improve the community, we contributed much more than the monies we received from the city’s home-buyer program.
Randy at Randy Writes Romance asks why backers couldn’t have picked another letter, since Proposition H sounds a lot like a certain drug store product.
Proposition R has stirred less discussion on its merits than about the merits of the pro- campaign. Kevin Roderick at LAObserved posts a letter from City Controller Laura Chick, who was peeved that her name was used in a pro mailer even though she’s against the measure. Jason Lyon at Silver lake at Large isn’t a fan of one pro-R mailer either, which he believes misleads voters into thinking that R decreases rather than increases term limits.