The Top 10 Reasons to Oppose RIFT

Okay I do not mean to trivialize this with a "Late Show" type listing, yet I do think it's a good way to start the conversation. In this post I will identify the top 10 reasons why I think that Proposition T is a bad idea. This is just an outline. In follow-up posts, I will go through each of these reasons in detail, one per post.

So here they are:

1. Reducing commercial development to 75,000 square feet per year will not reduce traffic and may even increase it.

2. There are more effective ways to fight traffic congestion. This method is like using a chain saw to do heart surgery (or as my teacher used to say, if the only tool in your box is a hammer, than every problem looks like a nail).

3. This measure will not increase pedestrian safety.

4. This measure will require cuts in services, increase in taxes, or some of both to maintain a balanced budget.

5. This measure will affect the ability to redevelop abandoned industrial sites in the city particularly along Olympic Avenue

6. This measure will seriously affect the ability to humanize Lincoln  and Pico Boulevards

7. This measure will impact the likelihood of the Purple Line, aka, "the Subway to the Sea" aka, the Wilshire Blvd. subway from ever getting beyond Westwood. (Note, I'm not talking about the Expo light rail line here, but the actual underground subway).

8. This measure will hurt our city's efforts to halt global warming and create a more sustainable environment.

9. It is biased against lower income folks.

10. It will not stop development, just commercial development. The increased housing will generate even more traffic.

There are other reasons, but these are mine.