‘Why bother?’

Re “Get ready for March 3,” editorial, Jan. 25

There’s a reason people don’t vote in the odd-year municipal elections. They feel disenfranchised!

If one set out to destroy a city while maintaining a thin veneer of democratic process, one couldn’t do a much better job than has been done in Los Angeles.

The inconvenient and thinly covered off-year elections, gerrymandered City Council districts that divide rather than unite geographic units and population groups, unresponsive elected and appointed city officials, poorly enforced ethics and campaign contribution laws and backroom deals that allow rampant overdevelopment and complete disregard for land use and zoning regulations make many people say, “Why bother?”

Why should they waste time voting when it seems that nothing ever changes?

Daniel J. Fink

Los Angeles