Sales tax ballot, Hells Angels and diagonal crosswalks: Ramping up, Aug. 6

Sales tax hits immovable object: L.A. County Board of Supes

Unhappy with the prospect of a half-cent sales tax going on the November ballot, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday decided not to follow protocol and put the initiative on the general election ballot. Instead, it will be on a separate ballot unless the MTA sues, as they are threatening to do. Even though he voted against the sales tax, Supervisor Don Knabe (at far right) said he expects such a lawsuit to be successful. If not, Knabe's vote -- and that of his colleagues Mike Antonovich (at far left) and Gloria Molina (second from left, note that she actually abstained) -- will mean the election costs taxpayers up to an extra $3 million.

Attentive readers may recall how well the county does when it comes to single ballots: Remember what happened in the February primary when confusing directions (or lack of directions) resulted in thousands of people losing their presidential primary vote?

The sales tax effort gets its next big test Thursday in the Senate Appropriations Committee. I'll try to report on how that will go later today. Gotta make some phone calls first.

Hells Angels need some high draft picks

My colleague Francisco Vara-Orta has an eyebrow-raiser online today: Police arrested eight members of the Christian biker gang Set Free and charged them with attempted murder stemming from a bar fight in a Newport Beach bar. The victims: The Hells Angels. I'd love to know what the odds were before the fight took place.

Mr. Vara-Orta is having a busy morning. He is also reporting that a motorist was shot in the arm on the northbound 110 this morning in the Carson area in an apparent road rage incident. The police say they have a suspect in custody but are mum on details.

More on history of scramble crosswalks

I wrote the other day that the scramble crosswalk debuting in Westwood this week was the city's first. Not so, says Eric Richardson of Blogdowntown. Trolling the archives of The Times, he found stories mentioning that the city had them in downtown between 1956 and '58, but ultimately were gotten rid of because -- you guessed it -- they impaired the flow of downtown traffic. Check out his item -- it's really good (as usual) and he dug up a photo, too.

710 tunnel update

Good item at The Times' L.A. Now blog, via the Pasadena Star-News, on the South Pasadena City Council voting 4 to 1 to support a state bill that would allow private funds to be used to build the proposed tunnel. Question for Bottleneckers: Which project gets done first -- the 710 tunnel or a subway actually coming within 500 yards of the sea?

Gas price bill

There are plenty of driving-related bills in front of the Legislature this summer. One of them waiting for a vote before the full Assembly is SB 623, which requires gas stations to disclose if they're offering discounts for certain types of purchases. This happens most often with cash buys, and the bill's sponsor, Pat Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa), says it can mean the difference of as much of 8 cents a gallon -- in other words, a buck or two filling most cars.

French traffic

My colleague Sebastian Rotella has a fun piece in today's online edition about the crazy long traffic jams experienced by the French when they all go on vacation at once in July and August. One gent complains of it taking two hours to drive two miles. Here's an excerpt:

The French (and other Europeans) go a little crazy where their summer vacation is concerned. You do not want to get in their way. Employees rush through projects or simply disappear. Masters abandon pets, sometimes shoving dogs out of cars at the roadside. In 2003, the corpses of dozens of elderly Parisians, among 15,000 victims of a heat wave, languished in city morgues because their families chose not to interrupt their beach getaways for the funerals.

-- Steve Hymon

Photo credit: Los Angeles County

Comments

[Dana Gabbard]

I used to attend MTA Board meetings. Seeing up close the antics of this august collection of local politicos, especially the Supervisors, finally got to be too much and I gladly let my colleague Kymberleigh Richards take on that thankless duty while I handle things like SCAG and various regional meetings. So the current behavior of the Supes isn't surprising yet is still disappointing and even illogical, if they really are seeking to have funds for their various pet projects. If this measure doesn't pass there will be little money for anything. What a fabulous legacy!