Editor:
After reading yet another letter in your paper (April 2) by ‘guest author’, and former mayor promoting at-large elections , it occurred to me, there seems to be a pattern of letters written by past and present SM mayors defending the current out of date electoral system that opposes district elections.
Though his op-ed is quite eloquent and well written with all the persuasive statistics, glittering generalities and logic to support his argument ,(as his past letters), it’s time for him and the others to stop trying to prop-up a desperate leadership that has out lived its original purpose that allowed it to get elected during difficult times in the ‘70’s .We are not the same city! One could imagine these dedicated supporters could be on the city payroll to help preserve this antiquated election system, but that’s an unlikely theory due to the huge costs so far to the city to defend itself against the ‘elections lawsuit’ estimated at between 10-20 $million. The decision to appeal last month will only add to these legal fees an unknown amount. These ‘guest authors’ (current and past mayors) are like a group of desperate doctors trying to save a dying patient on life support , “try or do anything” they’re all saying, “what have we got to lose?”
Well! most of us who’ve been following this 2-4yr. old story have time on our side. Another year to appeal and unknown millions from developers and the general fund to save this ‘dying patient’ is a terrible waste of human and financial resources. Time to pull the plug
Stephen Lancaster
Santa Monica
