The separate ballot in LA that you probably havent heard of

Everyone is talking about the June 2 primary election in California, especially the results in LA.But there was another election on June 2 that you might not have heard of, as you needed to own property to vote in it.The election, known as a Proposition 218 Ballot Process, will determine whether LA property owners will pay a special tax assessment to raise money to replace broken streetlights with solar-powered ones.Special ballots were mailed in April, and were due June 2.

The vote count is ongoing, and results will be announced on June 26.The issue has arisen because of rampant copper wire theft, which is disabling streetlights across the city.Keeping the streets lit in America’s second-largest city is no easy task under normal circumstances.With upward of 223,000 streetlights, including an underground network of 9,000 miles of conduit and 27,000 miles of copper wire, the city of Los Angeles’s streetlight network illuminates the city’s roads and neighborhoods for its millions of residents.Unfortunately, copper wire theft has risen to substantial levels, as a result of soft-on-crime policies and an overstretched police force that has plagued the City of Angels for years.

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By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.Never miss a story Instead of addressing the root of the problem, Mayor Bass and most of the LA City Council backed a Prop.

218 tax to raise $125 million to replace and update streetlights.Many of the new ones would be solar-powered. Updating public infrastructure is not bad; however, the current approach does not address the underlying problem of high rates of copper theft, which creates a strong incentive for people to commit the crime in the first place.

The tax would also raise property owners’ fees by up to 120% in an already extremely expensive pl...