Results tagged “measureb”

Obama's California campaign manager Mitchell Schwartz was all about Measure B, the solar power initiative that barely failed on the March 3rd ballot. His tune is changing, at least in regards to the city's leadership on the measure. “When something that should be very popular doesn’t pass, it is a wakeup call to the mayor and the City Hall establishment," he said to the LA Weekly. "There was something that went on that the mayor and others need to look at and understand. There is some discontent out there which is directed at the powerful.” At issue was transparency for many voters and it shows without it, big budgets only buy so much. "Yes on B spent nearly $1.6 million only to fail against the tiny $74,451 mustered by No on Measure B," the Weekly found.

The final vote count is over and the controversial measure B lost by 2,644 votes. By the morning after the March 3rd election, it was too close to tell with 45,000 more ballots to count. Two weeks later, the count was still close with 50.5% opposing, 49.5% in favor

A difference of 1,322 votes has the solar power initiative losing in preliminary results after last week's election--46,000 ballots are still being counted. Measure B would give the DWP the guaranteed job of producing 400 megawatts of solar power for the city by 2014. Even if the measure loses, the agency will still work on solar power, but this time with a more public and transparent process. "The election results show it's clear the voters want an open process," Councilmember Richard Alarcon was quoted saying in the Daily News. "It also sent a message to the City Council and the mayor that we have some work to do. If we are going to drive this industry and make it profitable, we have to have everybody on board with what we're doing to develop long-term support of the public."

Former Daily News Editor turned grassroots activist Ron Kaye last week took an in-depth look at the preliminary election results district by district. He came to some interesting conclusions and one thing that surprised us most was that five of the fifteen council districts--in the Valley and on the Westside--hold nearly half of the city's voting population:

This could be the turning point for Measure B and a few other close races. The City Clerks office has 21 days by election code to announce the official results, but they could be announced earlier, one representative said over the phone. Here's what's left to count:

With an extremely weak voter turnout, yesterday's election ended with not-so-surprising final results, but did have some interesting numbers. The following is based on results posted by the City Clerks Office at 1:46 a.m. with 99.94% of precincts reporting.

When we go vote on March 3rd, the most contested and fought-over choice we make will be whether to vote yes or no on Measure B (Yes | No). So much has happened with Measure B in the last few months, and this week, both the LA Times and Daily News urged voters to say NO.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is going on a quick trip tonight to Washington D.C. to lobby the Obama administration to make sure Los Angeles gets a good slice of the federal stimulus package that's making its way through the Senate today, according to the LA Times. He hopes to get funding for the Subway to the Sea and the solar energy plan, which the controversial Measure B on the March 3rd ballot is part of. Also, he wants the money to go directly to cities and not the state, who still hasn't come up with a budget solution forcing them to give IOUs to residents on their tax refunds.

The most controversial initiative on the March 3rd ballot is Measure B, "which calls for unionized DWP workers to install solar panels on rooftops and parking lots across the city," as the LA Times once put it. Solar power, a definite good thing, is not all that it's cracked up to be, at least in this plan say opponents. At last night's packed Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council meeting of around 200 people, proponents from both sides of the issue were scheduled to speak. But the Yes on B side represented by James Unger, which is for all purposes is Mayor Villaraigosa and friends, did not show. The opposition, officially represented by City Attorney candidate Noel Weiss, gave their spiel and easily won over the crowd who booed and hissed at the mere mention of the yes side. Who knew the do gooding nature of solar power would turn into such a contemptuous subject?

With 100% of precincts reporting, voters in the city of Los Angeles seem to have passed three of the four measures on yesterday's ballot, each of which have different majorities needed to pass.

LA Weekly has taken a deep look into the local Proposition B, "an extremely obscure measure on the Nov. 4 ballot [that] would wipe out the two-story height restrictions on poverty housing in Los Angeles, legally allowing tall towers containing low-income housing once again," writes Jill Stewart who explains that "the measure [...] would also wipe out the Los Angeles voter-approved cap allowing no more than 52,500 of these low-rent units, in carefully controlled dollops of 30 units or less per building, citywide." She goes on to call the popular and usually untouchable LA City Council President Eric Garcetti an "avid density hawk" who has engaged in "breathtaking spin" regarding the measure. So that's one side of it, at least. More to come.