Ballot Box Taxation is as bad as ballot box budgeting.
Laws need to be crafted by experts or committed members of government in partnership with civic leaders. Why force a city to waste money on ballot measure voting, when the proposals so conflict and contradict each other that voting for one or the other will not resolve revenue shortfalls?
Then there the ongoing concerns about the legality of ballot measures if they are passed. Hermosa Beach residents deserve to make decisions about how revenue is both gathered and spent in their city, but the process in Hermosa Beach, and throughout the state, needs to be simplified and streamlined. It is a waste of time, energy, and resources for competing interests to promote ballot measures which will cancel each other out or face legal scrutiny upon passage. Hermosa Beach already has enough legal problems to contend with i.e. the ongoing litigation over Macpherson Oil.
I do appreciate one option in Hermosa Beach Measure N, which would grant a complimentary business license for incoming businesses. Why was this measure not listed on the ballot by itself? I am sure that city leaders and citizens would have supported any measure to bring in more businesses, more tax revenue, and more economic recovery.
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