Council District 2 election
San Fernando Valley residents should know about the upcoming election for Los Angeles city Council District 2 on September 22. Last night, I attended an event at the Adat Ari El synagogue in North Hollywood to hear the candidates speak. I am not an expert in local politics, so some of what they had to say went over my head. The main topic that concerned all of them was recent actions by the DWP which seemed to waste taxpayer money or be corrupt in some way.
I went to the event to make sure that the candidates had an opinion on runaway productions—film and television produced outside of Los Angeles in order to cut costs. Other places like Massachusetts and Georgia have big tax incentives that bring Hollywood productions to their state and away from the heart of the entertainment industry where people like us depend on our livelihoods. Not only are entertainment industry personnel affected by runaway productions, but also local businesses such as restaurants, rental companies, caterers, etc. are affected.
After each of the ten candidates had a chance to speak for five minutes, the moderator asked for questions from the audience. I was able to state my case and ask what specifically each candidate planned to do to combat the trend described above. It seemed to me that most of the ten candidates did not have this issue very high on their priorities list. The candidate who answered the question most satisfactorily to me was Paul Krekorian, who made reference to a program he spearheaded this year as a member of the California State Assembly to give tax incentives to projects that shot in California. You can read more about it here.
Don’t forget to vote on September 22.
Tags: Election