*******Press Conference In The Morning!! In South Los Angeles***********
From the Bus Riders Union to Beverly Hills, from Crenshaw to the San Gabriel Valley, new coalition insists proposal will accelerate fattening special interests and devastate diverse communities.
Who: The newly formed Coalition to Defeat Measure J, including the Bus Riders Union, the Crenshaw Subway Coalition, the No 710 Action Committee, Beverly Hills Unified School District, Union de Vecinos of Boyle Heights, Congress of Racial Equality-CA, and La Basta of East Los Angeles.
What: Press conference. Giant blank checks highlighting Measure J’s corporate sponsors and beneficiaries – JMB Realty, Westfield Corporation, Parsons Brinckerhoff.
When/Where: Tuesday, October 16 @10AM. 5808 Crenshaw Boulevard @ Slauson, South Los Angeles.
Why: The region’s biggest transit advocacy group, the Bus Riders Union, is joining forces with community leaders from the Crenshaw district, Beverly Hills, East LA, Northeast LA, and the San Gabriel Valley – all of whom see Measure J as a shameless bid for a blank check by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a public agency completely out of touch with public needs.
Members of the new Coalition to Defeat Measure J draw a common conclusion based on common experiences with the agency. As Sunyoung Yang, Bus Riders Union Lead Organizer, put it: “LA Metro cannot be trusted – especially given what they’ve done since the last sales tax in 2008. Measure J is nothing more than an open line of credit for crony capitalism – with powerful companies like JMB Realty, Westfield Corporation, and Parsons Brinckerhoff lining up to feed at the public trough.”
SouthLA 