Measure R: it pays for groceries, too!

Are you happy with your job? In these discouraging economic times, take a moment to think of the dozens of people who have spent the past four days standing in the middle of traffic, holding signs for Measure R, the half-cent sales tax hike proposal for public transit in Los Angeles County.

For $15 an hour, these men and women have stood at intersections trying to get you, the weary commuter, to notice their oversized green Measure R signs – the ones that read “Yes on Measure R – Roadmap for Traffic Relief.”

The Measure R sign holders are sort of like tiny billboards, or the guy who twirls an gigantic arrow toward a newly available condominium unit. Still, some of the Measure R sign holders took their work to a higher, more theatrical plane.

At the corner of Wilshire and Figueroa, one sign holder was instructed to yell “Bear” each time he saw an approaching bus. That was the cue for the rest of the group to swing into action.

“We’ll hold our signs and pretend like we’re going berserk, like we’re screaming as loud as we can, like we’re dying and Measure R is the only thing they can save us,” said Kyle Roberts, an actor who has done work in a Burger King commercial. “But really, we’re not making any noise at all. And the bus people don’t know what to make of it.”

Many of the sign holders could be found at Union Station on Monday, yelling enthusiastically for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky as they made their last pitch for the tax measure. By and large, they seemed to belong to L.A.’s creative classes -– musicians, deejays, the temporarily unemployed.

One sign holder promised to vote against Proposition 8, the measure to ban gay marriage, as long as a pedestrian agreed to vote for Measure R. Others were a bit fuzzy on the ballot measure, like the sign holder who thought the measure would finally bring a monorail to Los Angeles freeways. (It won’t).

A few were simply happy to pick up a few days of sign work. “That’s groceries for a few weeks,” said 19-year-old Jaren Aston, who recently left his job as a personal trainer.

On election day, the sign holders will spend eight hours at such locations as Figueroa and Exposition, making one last pitch to those who might not have voted. Substitute teacher Devin Montgomery (pictured above) will be holding one of those signs, and she is just happy that the Measure R doesn’t involve an issue that could cause a fight, like abortion.

“We’re just talking about traffic, so that’s a relief,” she said.

--David Zahniser

photo: David Zahniser / LAT

Comments

[Joe]

And I would like to thank the USC College Democrats and USC SPPD for doing the same at Fig/Expo on Friday, Monday, and today. USC and UCLA working hand in hand to make LA a better place!

[Sirinya Tritipeskkul]

I would like to bring the work of Bruins for Traffic Relief, a student club at UCLA, to your attention. For two months, we planned and then staged a campaign to raise awareness and educate our peers and fellow Angelenos on the Westside about Measure R. We weren't paid. We simply want to make LA a better place.