Our Opposition
Opposition to Measure VY
What is the Culver City Council up to?
They:
1. Defunded the police department by 20% (after originally proposing 50%)
2. Fouled up downtown traffic in BOTH directions by eliminating or painting over lanes
3. Spent $300,000 of taxpayer money to study reparations to Black people
4. Eliminated single-family-home zoning (so developers can now build a five-story apartment building next to your single-family home)
5. Spent over $444,000 for a Rent Control Bureaucracy
NOW THEY WANT TO LET 16-YEAR-OLDS VOTE IN CULVER CITY’S GENERAL ELECTIONS.
These are not elections with training wheels so your children can “warm up” for the BIG elections. These ARE big elections to elect the people who make traffic and parking easier or harder; increase or decrease your police department; keep Culver City safe from the lawless elements that surround us; keep the homeless off our streets; keep pot stores away from our schools; or increase taxes to pay reparations to people of color.
Can you imagine our school board or our city council caving in on issues regarding shorter school hours or fewer days of school in order to carry the “high school vote”?
Will that 16- or 17-year-old voter reinforce your vote, dilute your vote, or merely cancel it out? Will that voter vote to raise YOUR taxes when you can’t afford them, or fire your police department when you need it most?
Because the 16- and 17-year-old vote must be counted separately by Culver City, not by the County of Los Angeles, allowing 16-year-olds to vote will cost the City of Culver City an additional $40,000 EACH election.
Now is the time for mature thinking. Vote “NO” on Measure VY.
Steven Gourley, Former Mayor and School Board President
Our Rebuttal to Their Argument
Rebuttal to Measure VY
(as it appears in the Voter Pamphlet)
The Proponents of this measure want you to approve 16-and-17-year-old voting this election. What will they want you to approve NEXT election? Their next goal is to allow people who DON’T live in Culver City to vote in Culver City. After that, they plan to ask you to approve voting by illegal aliens in Culver City, as they currently can in New York City.
Proponents of this measure point to Oakland and Berkeley as shining examples of California cities which allow 16-and-17-year-old voting. Does anyone in Culver City really want to emulate Oakland and Berkeley? Look up Oakland and Berkeley and see all the “informed” decisions they make about violence and crime. Are the 16-and-17-year-olds there “engaged” in their communities? Are they making their communities safer? The other glistening community up north, San Francisco, has VOTED this measure DOWN, TWICE. What does that tell you?
The Proponents (who currently CONTROL both our School Board and City Council) fail to mention the extra cost TO THE CITY of this special teenage election ($40,000) while they beg you to raise taxes elsewhere in this voter pamphlet.
There is still time. Go back and vote NO on VY.
Steven Gourley, Former Mayor and School Board President
Stand Together with Us Against Measure VY
Voters Against VY
Steven Gourley, former Mayor, former School Board President
Scott Zeidman, former School Board President
Jeff Cooper, former Mayor
Jozelle Smith, former Mayor
Rafia Cooper
Robin Turner
Rosalind LaBriola
Marta Valdes
Ramsey Houston
Khim Khim Gyi
Sharon Cotterell
Jeannie Tamaki
Ed Baughan
Karen Gajeski
Cathy Zermeno
Rich Kissell
Fran Kissell
Ken Smith
Phil Tangalakis, Esq.