While almost all of the races in yesterday's city-wide elections were foregone conclusions before the ballots were counted, there are still a couple of important races yet to be decided. Ironically, the races that are yet to be decided are the races between Fifth District City Councilman Jack Weiss and Carmen Trutanich for City Attorney and the race to replace Weiss in the Fifth District which has been narrowed down to Former state Assemblyman and West Hollywood City Councilman Paul Koretz and Century City area homeowner activist David Vahedi.
These races will be decided on May 19, roughly two months and two weeks from today. In that time, Streetsblog will put together surveys for each of the four remaining candidates for the two offices and report back their answers in un-edited responses as we receive them. However, this being a blog, a medium for two way communication, I'm asking for your help. What questions do you want to see the candidates answer concerning transportation, development and Livable Streets before the May 19th runoff?
It might not seem obvious at first what value a survey of City Attorney candidates by transportation reform advocates could have. However, "enforcement" is the third of the three "e's" of transportation planning joining "engineering" and "education;" so people may want to get the future city attorney on record right now concerning their visions for lawful and safe streets in Los Angeles.
In the case of Vahedi and Koretz, we already know a good deal about their transportation plans. The Los Angeles Times ran a series on all the Fifth District Cadidates' views on both the Expo Line and development in more general terms. Of course, the blog "BikingInLA" invited all candidates to write a statement on cycling issues in Los Angeles. Vahedi responded. Koretz has not. In addition to what's already out there, what do you want to know from the candidates?
I'll post the surveys before I send them out on March 18. Streetsblog will do the same for the candidates to replace Wendy Greuel in the Second District once the details of the election and the candidates are known.
