Los Angeles, I’m Not Sure If I Can Deal With All This Change

Notes on the 2024 Elections at the Local Level

Los Angeles seen from just above the 101 Freeway. Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons.

After all the ads, mailers, texts soliciting donations, and a final count of about $16 billion spent on both sides altogether, the race for president in the U.S. and all its tentacle elections are finally over with. What’s left now is to process the results. As before, please note that the views below are entirely mine and not reflective of the views of the whole team at Making a Neighborhood.

Save for a few exceptions, Los Angeles City and County voters should be pleased with just where our civic institutions are headed after this November 5th; California, not so much, though that’s a matter for another day. Locally:

1. Measure A passes. Can you say, over $1.7 billion a year for homeless services…FOREVER? This is how much L.A. County estimates the new half cent sales tax will generate each year–until voters choose otherwise. The sales tax raise is set to majorly assist L.A. County government in delivering more supportive housing units and services for approximately 75,000 Angelenos without a roof overhead on any given night. And maybe, just maybe, at some point it can also create an actual safety net for the nearly 1.2 million households in the City and County which are housed but severely rent-burdened.

2. Measure G passes. Wow. We did it!! While expanding the L.A. County Board of Supervisors is not quite as punk as dethroning The House of Bourbon, the measure’s passage does indicate a real interest from voters in remaking what we know as the wider city’s governance for the benefit of all 9.6 million of us. It takes the board from 5 to 9 Supervisors and creates an elected L.A. County CEO, or L.A. County Mayor. It’s about time, isn’t it? L.A. County’s new, elected CEO should get in by 2028, while the new Supervisors are set to get in around 2030 following the next Census. Ah, to pause and think about all the days and nights between now and then.

3. Measure E passes. I missed covering this in my Election Recommendations, but this parcel tax upgrades L.A. County’s Fire Department after being approved by just about 1.2 million of the nearly 4 million voters in L.A. County who filled out ballots by November 5th. With another small, yet significant tax, this time for property owners—excepting low-income seniors—it’s clear that a decisive portion of the electorate still believes in funding public services with their wallets as long as it’s reasonable; given the extent to which the Mountain Fire engulfed parts of Ventura County through Election Week and, at the time of this writing, is still less than 40% contained, one can say it’s one of the electorate’s wiser investments.

4. Charter Amendment DD passes. While many people across Los Angeles spent years calling on public officials to reform the redistricting or map-making process for our neighborhoods, nothing spurred this conversation for the whole city the way the 2022 audio leaks did. The leaks definitely acted as our local “Watergate” moment, while the L.A. Times in particular won Pulitzers for their coverage. Now, since an independent redistricting process has been made official, do we just forget about it until 2030? Hopefully not. Looking at you, Rob Bonta.

5. Charter Amendment ER passes. The initial reform proposal sought to increase the size of the board from 5 to 7 members, and also to allow the Ethics Commission to appoint the latter two members on the Commission rather than having L.A. City Council choose nominees, as is the case now. Another initial reform proposal sought to grant the L.A. Ethics Commission power to place recommendations for best practices before voters directly if and when necessary; While these provisions did not make it to the ballot voted on come November 5th, the fact is that the L.A. Ethics Commission does now have more room to work, with an assured annual budget in contrast to earlier years—and, just as importantly—the support of a far more watchful public than what’s been the case historically.

6. Charter Amendment FF passes. LAPD Airport Police, or LAXPD, reports having at least 450 sworn police officers on its payrolls. According to the department website, a police officer’s starting salary is between $92,000 - $114,000. If retirement provides 25% of that annually, then the city of Los Angeles is now officially on the hook for between $24,500 - $28,500 in pensions each year for the average LAXPD officer. Multiplied (conservatively) by 400, the number becomes $9.8 million - $11.4 million for the City of L.A. City to distribute at some point. At a time when the city is already on track to borrow $80 million to cover its current expenses due to overwhelming payouts in liability settlements, this is likely to be a challenging new add-on and headache for the Council.

7. Charter Amendment HH passes. On the same day that yours truly pointed readers to that time when Lexis-Olivier Ray faced legal harassment from the L.A. City Attorney for filming LAPD, he was actually held–without charges–by LAPD for filming an encampment sweep at which the department was present. Although no charges were filed, it was a clear violation of his rights as a member of the press. With expanded subpoena power over the public, ensuring the L.A. City Attorney conducts themselves appropriately should be a high priority, especially for the newly refreshed L.A. Ethics Commission. Apart from this portion of the measure, strengthening the L.A. City Controller’s auditing powers over contractors who establish business with the city is a welcome development in my book.

8. Charter Amendment II passes. For this, it merits repeating that in 2018 the Neighborhood Data for Change cited a study showing that “Los Angeles has a median of 3.3 acres of park space per 1,000 people, well below the median of 6.8 acres per 1,000 people in other high-density U.S. cities.” The study also ranked L.A. 74th out of 100 U.S. cities in terms of park space. Ideally, in years ahead, far more ambitious initiatives for green space in L.A. will become the norm rather than the exception.

9. Charter Amendment LL passes. The LAUSD now also gets its own redistricting process. If this doesn’t suggest we’ve got a newly engaged electorate at the civic level in L.A., I don’t know what does.

10. LAUSD’s Measure US passes. Although I recommended a No Vote on this bond measure, once again a decisive portion of the public shows interest in public investments for the next generation. Along with the passage of State Measure 2, “[authorizing] $10 billion in general obligation bonds for repair, upgrade, and construction of facilities at K-12 public schools (including charter schools), community colleges, and career technical education programs…,” what’s left is to ensure these dollars reach the workers, families, and communities they’re supposed to. I suppose that’s where updates for LAUSD’s Office of the Inspector General might come in handy, but again that’s a matter for another day.
    
    For now, follow me via J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast for hot takes on California’s Votes on Our State Measures this year—coming soon—and onward, Los Angeles.

J.T.