Results tagged “props”

                                          

It's that time of year again, when many LA residents (along with others from around the world) make the trek to Comic-Con in San Diego. Given that 125,000 people are attending the convention this year, navigating the Comic-Con exhibit hall is an event in itself. And although the main costume spectacle will take place during Saturday night's masquerade, today's crop didn't disappoint!

I was driving back from the Costco in Burbank one afternoon when my boyfriend turned to me and asked "Why in God's name is there a custom hat store on Magnolia? Who wears hats anymore?" I thought a second, laughed, and said -- "Hollywood!" Movie-makers will always need milliners and other manufacturers of specialty props -- right??

With 100% of precincts reporting, preliminary results for yesterday's special election are here. It's preliminary because an unknown number of provisional and vote-by-mail ballots still need to be counted. Here's a round up of what happened:

Other than Prop 1F, all the budget ballot props have failed, according to the Sacramento Bee: "With about a quarter of the state's precincts in as of 9:30 p.m., the Secretary of State's Office reported none of Propositions 1A through 1E were garnering more than 41 percent of the vote. Only Proposition F, which would freeze the salaries of state elected officials in bad budget years, was winning - and it was winning big." Contests for LA City Attorney and the 5th District are still up for grabs. As of 10:30 p.m., Carmen "Nuch" Trutanich is up 3 points over Jack Weiss for City Attorney with 22% of the precincts reporting. In the 5th District, Paul Koretz leads David Vahedi by 5 points. Only 10% of the precincts reporting in that race.

Well, election day is tomorrow and if you haven't already voted by mail and are otherwise understudied for tomorrow, there are plenty places to help catch you up on tomorrow's election. Here are some of our recommendations:

On the May 19th special election ballot, we'll be voting for Los Angeles City Attorney and a new representative for Council District 5. And while those are very important to us locally, the big news across the state will be the six propositions that are supposed to help fix the state's budget woes and from having it happen again, finds the LA Times.

Uncounted absentee and provisional ballots across the state--estimated to be around 1.6 million--must be counted by December 2. LA County officials say around 566,000 ballots remain uncounted while other counties in Southern California estimate a combined total of around 421,000. When all is said an done, could any of the close races turn around?

In order to get the State Legislature to pass the budget, which was due by July 1st, Schwarzenegger threatened to veto any bill that came across his desk until it passed. But that meant he would have to veto bills that he supported like the bill to update the High Speed Rail proposition (SF to LA in under 3 hours) or his water bond bill. Then today he reversed course... for his pet bills, of course. For those following the Metro sales tax story, Streetsblog LA has some hope that the bill that would allow voters to approve or deny public transit funding will be signed.

Mark Paul, former deputy treasurer of California, among other things, has a good point about all the money-spending initiatives on this November's ballot. "In a little-noticed report, Treasurer Bill Lockyer projected last year that, at current tax levels, California will not be able to pay for its existing programs and its debt service at any time in the next two decades if voters keep approving bonds at the same rate as they have over the last 20 years." There are six props (1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10) that would effect the budget at the tune of "$2.7 billion a year in bond debt service and direct state spending," all without any way to pay for them. If a 13th one is added, which would be a water bond, that number jumps to beyond $3 billion.

There are state propositions (like Prop 7, Prop 10, Prop 8, etc) and there are county measures like the could-be Measure R that's about transportation funding. Then there are citywide propositions, which will be worked on today by City Council members in a Ballot Simplification Committee Meeting today (.pdf). What they're working on are two items to look out for on the November ballot, Propositions A and B, or the "Special Gang and Youth Violence Prevention, After-School and Job Training Programs Tax" and "Update of Low Rent Housing Authorization," respectively.

For left-leaning teens and young adults aged 14 through 35, the California Democratic Party has an official "youth arm" for them called the California Young Democrats. The organization has already taken a position on November's ballot, which is three months away as of yesterday.

As it stands right now, in November, we vote on 12 state propositions, which is quite a handful for our minds to wrap around. But it's nothing compared to the 47 state props Californians had to deal with back in the 1914 general election (should boxing be outlawed on Memorial Day?). The Santa Barbara Independent has nicely collated and summarized each prop under their proper categories:

From Los Angeles to the deepest parts of the universe, it's nothing but nonstop presidential talk. But here in California -- the land of liberal legislatin' -- there are SEVEN statewide ballot propositions to consider once you step inside the voting booth tomorrow. One L.A. City prop is also on the ballot.

This house in Burbank has a giant Disneyesque tree stump in its front yard. Why is it there? Maybe it is permanent part of the cottage charm. Maybe it is a giant holiday yule log. Maybe it is a prop in the making that is refusing to cross the picket line. Or maybe there is a giant blue ox on the run somewhere in the city. Like most Angelenos, I stopped asking, "Why?" a long time ago. I just appreciate the whimsical unpredictability of living in LA.