There are many reasons to mock California voters and politicians. And there are also plenty of reasons to make fun of San Francisco voters and politicians.
But what about the state’s other big city? Don’t politicians and voters in Los Angeles do things that deserve verbal abuse?
The answer, of course, is yes.
And I’ve already done that, writing earlier this month about a class-warfare tax on expensive homes that has backfired.
Today, we’re going to look at an even-crazier idea that the left is promoting.
Here are some excerpts from a column in the Los Angeles Daily News by Susan Shelley.
…voters in the city of Los Angeles will be asked to decide whether to approve the “Responsible Hotel Ordinance,” a measure that would require hotel operators to report to the city, every day, the number of vacant rooms in their property so the city can send homeless people over to the hotels to stay in the rooms that night. …Business travelers, tourists and visitors will be side-by-side in the corridors, elevators, lobby and breakfast room with people who have been relocated from a nearby tent encampment to enjoy the same accommodations, paid for by city taxpayers. …If you thought insurance companies were bailing out of California before, wait until they have to cover this. …Hotels in other parts of L.A. County are not affected, except possibly by an unexpected boost of bookings from conventions and other events that are avoiding Los Angeles like the plague.
When I first read this article, I wondered whether it runs afoul of the Bill of Rights and the Third Amendment. I’ll be curious if any lawyers can comment on that.
But the weirdest part of the story is that this initiative is being pushed by the union representing hotel workers. I can’t help but wonder about motives.
- Does the union hate management so much that they want to ruin the hotels, even though that means fewer jobs for unionized workers?
- Does the union actually think this will produce more business and more jobs, even though it should be obvious that the policy will discourage normal travelers?
- Does the union have some other agenda and simply views the proposed initiative as a way of extorting hotel managers to achieve that goal?
I don’t know the answer, so feel free to offer your best guess.
Ms. Shelley’s column concludes with these two sentences.
Fortunately, voters can just say no. That’s the other power of direct democracy.
These sentences are true. Voters in the City of Los Angeles will decide whether to sabotage local hotels.
Sadly, I don’t think L.A. voters are as sensible as Swiss voters, so I don’t expect direct democracy to produce a good result. If that’s the outcome, Professor Garret Jones will be tempted to say “I told you so.”
