Editor’s Note- Vote Smart is an informational series focused on the upcoming November ballot, and it runs ahead of the Election Day column Mark Your Ballot. Everything on the ballot – propositions, measures and candidates – will be addressed here before being summarized on November 5, 2024.
Of course, every ballot has layers. Along with all the state propositions, there are the Los Angeles County Measures. First, vote Yes on Measure A: Affordable Housing and Safety No. while homelessness has been the most pressing problem of the last two decades, we are finally seeing numbers moving in a better direction. Not by a lot, but this problem did not occur overnight, and it takes more than a snap of the fingers to solve.
Current funding for homelessness services is set to expire. Measure A will provide crucial support to close out encampments, and get people the support and services that they need. Measure A increases accountability in by mandating annual audits tied to receiving funding.
If Measure A does not pass, nearly 50,000 people will lose services or housing. That’s more families and children living on the streets than there are now. Vote Yes.
No on Measure G; It’s controversial, and while there is good and bad in the proposal, I need to see a proposal that is simply good. Creating a new position – a kind of county mayor – with little transparency and no term limits is tempting corruption. The Board of Supervisors already has more money and more power that than the governors of many states, or the prime ministers of some countries. To put all of that in one person’s hands is just too much.
Adding more seats to the Board of Supervisors is a good idea, but one that needs more development. We have five districts, and ten or fifteen would be better. Measure G, if passed, will also require budgetary cuts impacting existing services, programs, and jobs. Change is good. Well structured change is ideal. Vote No.
Judith Martin-Straw
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