Supporters of a Los Angeles ballot plan to put the brakes on big developments that create mind-numbing traffic and degrade the environment are now aiming to place their measure before voters during the March 2017 election.
Originally they aimed to have the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative on the Nov. 8 election ballot.
But in recent weeks, it has become apparent the presidential election could turn into a media circus and that more than 20 statewide measures might be competing for voter and media attention in the same election, said Neighborhood Integrity Initiative campaign director Jill Stewart.
“Our initiative is too important to be buried at the tail-end of this November’s ballot,” she said. “The ballot is beginning to look like it will be historically long and confusing.
“The Neighborhood Integrity Initiative is a watershed movement that deserves the undivided attention of the city’s voters and its media.”
Local measures always appear at the end of ballots that contain national and state issues.
“The election next March 7 will be exclusively focused on L.A. city issues and candidates,” Ms. Stewart.
On that ballot will be the election for mayor, city controller, city attorney and eight Los Angeles City Council members.
“Although we have lost some time, next March’s election is a perfect fit for our measure,” said Ms. Stewart. “We want our measure to be a serious referendum on Los Angeles’ future.”
The Neighborhood Integrity Initiative evens the playing field at City Hall so residents have a greater opportunity to shape their communities, she said. Now, the playing field is heavily tilted toward big developers, their lobbyists, their land-use attorneys, their campaign contributions and their gifts to elected officials’ pet projects.
“City Hall’s approval system for big development projects is hopelessly broken,” said Ms. Stewart. “The city’s Wild West approach is to ignore an area’s crumbling infrastructure, its gridlocked traffic or its special character to please profit-hungry developers. No modern city should be ‘planned’ this way. We intend to fix this.”
The measure achieves the following:
- Creates a two-year time-out on City Council votes to approve of the biggest and most overwhelming development projects.
- Requires the City Council to regularly review its General Plan – including the community plans – in a process that provides far more accessibility to the public.
- Permanently ends the City Council’s granting of General Plan amendments to special-interests.
- Permanently ends an EIR system in which developers judge the environmental impacts of their projects, including traffic increases, pollution loads and noise — a glaring conflict of interest.
Mr. Schwada may be contacted at john.schwada@gmail.com
