On this Election Day, the ballot is a record length. Pay particular attention to Measure M — a tax increase with no end date for the MTA board and without any effective accountability mechanisms.
As you could guess, the tax is primarily to fund gold-plated projects on the Westside.
Measure M is a countywide sales tax increase that would be forever.
It is a blank check for the MTA board. It is a regressive tax that would hit the low-income the hardest. It offers not a single feasible transit project in South L.A. for the next 40 years, no Park Mesa Heights tunnel on Crenshaw, no Vermont subway extension, no protection against more fare increases, no money for anti-gentrification tools. Not. A. Single. Penny. For. 40. Years.
The one project some claim is for South L.A. is a northern extension of the Crenshaw Line through mid-Wilshire and West Hollywood that conveniently is planned to be built 100 percent underground through those communities.
Apparently, when it comes to the Crenshaw Line, MTA only wants to ruin the business corridor and imperil children’s lives in the communities south of the 10 Freeway.
As said by respected columnist and activist Larry Aubry, Measure M is “Robin Hood in reverse and racist.”
And this time, MTA isn’t just leaving out South L.A.
Measure M pushes back by decades from what was promised in Measure R, which was passed just eight years ago, critical transportation projects in the southeast and South Bay cities.
In the words of former L.A. City Councilmember Robert Farrell, “Those south of the 10 freeway…are being stiffed this time.”
Community Leaders Say No
I signed the official ballot argument against Measure M on behalf of the Crenshaw Subway Coalition, along with representatives of the NAACP, Bus Riders Union and League of United Latin American Citizens.
Formal opposition to Measure M also comes from the Black Community Clergy & Labor Alliance, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment Action (ACCE Action), Los Angeles Metropolitan Churches, Hyde Park Organizational Partnership for Empowerment, L.A. Council of Black Professional Engineers President Dr. Michael Batie, and a host of noted activists, including Dr. Melina Abdullah, Greg Akili, Pastor William Smart, Jr. and Opal Young.
No on Measure M is a historic coalition of community activists, transit advocates, civil rights leaders, environmentalists, and taxpayer advocates working in coordination with elected officials in the South Bay and southeast cities.
They are courageous enough to stand up against the big moneyed special interests to say “No” to bad deals for their constituents.
Join us in voting No on Measure M.
Mr. Goodmon, prominent South L.A, community advocate, may be contacted at info@crenshawsubway.org
For more information, go to www.NoForeverTax.com
