No on Measure J Coalition Is Formed
Posted in the Beverly Hills Courier
http://bhcourier.com/beverly-hills-los-angeles-community-leaders-form-alliance-oppose-measure-j-metros-blank-check/2012/10/09
Bus Riders Union, LA Groups, Beverly Hills Join to Stop Measure J
Updated Tuesday, October 09, 2012– 7:40 PM
By Matt Lopez and Marla Schevker
In a rebuke to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Third
District Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, community leaders from all over Los
Angeles County met today at the Beverly Hills Unified School District
office to form the No On Measure J Coalition, an alliance to oppose
Measure J.
“[The Bus Riders Union has] dealt with [Metro] for the last 15 years
and we know how they work,” Sunyoung Yang, Bus Riders Union
spokesperson, said. “We find it very critical that many different
community groups, who have been having a lot of concerns and issues
around what MTA is proposing and [working] on, should get together and
try to leverage more pressure on the MTA to do what the community is
asking for, not what they want.”
Alliance members include board members of the Beverly Hills Board of
Education, LA BASTA, Crenshaw Subway Coalition, Faithful Central Bible
Church in Inglewood, the Bus Riders Union, the No On 710 Action
Committee and other Beverly Hills organizations, who agreed to work
together to fight what is essentially a 30 year extension of the Measure
R half cent sales tax, which is currently set to expire in 2038.
“Measure J, if approved, would be a blank check for the MTA to use,”
Yang said. “There is no accountability whatsoever in Metro. The passage
of Measure J would give MTA unlimited amounts of leeway to first ignore
the community concerns and continue with [the] destructive projects that
both Measure R and Measure J are pushing for.”
The purpose of the initial meeting was to begin discussing a plan for
public opposition to Measure J including phone banks, literature, lawn
signs and car magnets.
“This really is a David versus Goliath, where the MTA has unlimited
resources and unlimited funds for the Yes on J campaign,” Brian David
Goldberg, Beverly Hills Board of Education president, said. “So any way
that we can work together to create those economies of scale and turn
the narrative around, that this isn’t just about wealthy people in
Beverly Hills who oppose the subway underneath the high school [but]
really is a regional issue. If you’re concerned about regional issues
that the best thing to do is to vote No on J.”
The No On Measure J Coalition will be working on a voter outreach
campaign to educate residents on the impacts of Measure J. Each
organization will work to reach their individual communities while as a
whole, the coalition will pool knowledge and resources to help each
other towards the common goal of defeating Measure J
“It’s showing the unity to communities are getting together and
fighting for the same cause under one flag,” LA BASTA Chairperson Art
Pulido said. “The flag is to protect our communities from politicians.
They come in, destroy our communities and leave. They just had Measure R
and no one knows where all that money went. We want accountability to
where that other money went before we can even start thinking about
Measure J.”
The coalition will be hosting an official press conference next
Tuesday at 10 a.m. The location has yet to be determined but will be
announced at
noonmeasurej.net, which is due to go live by the end of the week.
See the article for a video.