Pols plan one last push for Measure R
With less than 24 hours until polls open, some politicians in Los Angeles County are trying one more time this afternoon to persuade voters to approve Measure R, the half-cent sales tax in the county to pay for more mass transit and road projects.
A news conference is scheduled for 3 p.m. today at Union Station, featuring L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa -- who over the weekend was in New Mexico, stumping for Sen. Barack Obama -- and county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, as well as Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles). I posted the press release at right (click to make it larger).
The Measure R campaign has also scheduled 18 "gridlock rallies" at intersections throughout the county. In other words, Measure R proponents will be shouting at motorists and trying to encourage them to pass the measure.
Pols in the county have been stumping for and against Measure R, but it's been pretty low key, with most of the campaigning in the media.
Some public officials in the San Gabriel Valley held a news conference last week in Monrovia against Measure R featuring County Supervisor Mike Antonovich and Rep. Hilda Solis. Here's a link to a short story in the Pasadena Star News , although the coverage came more than a day after the event, which was not well publicized ahead of time.
"It takes from the poor and gives to the rich. They" -- the San Gabriel Valley -- "are being steamrolled by the westside to fund their multibillion-dollar subway to the sea," Antonovich spokesman Tony Bell told the Star-News.
