Student leaders take stance against Measure S in press conference
Rafi Sands, USAC external vice president, urged students to vote against Measure S at a Thursday press conference. (Farida Saleh/Daily Bruin)
By Rupan Bharanidaran
March 2, 2017 8:32 p.m.
Student leaders, activists and a city council candidate declared their opposition to Measure S in a press conference Thursday.
The undergraduate student government’s Office of the External Vice President, the Graduate Students Association and the BruinsVOTE! Campaign organized the press conference to inform news media of their position on Measure S. The event also featured speeches by a Los Angeles City Council candidate for District 5 – which includes Westwood – and a representative from the campaign against Measure S.
Organizers invited NBC and other media, but the Daily Bruin was the only news organization present.
External Vice President Rafi Sands said NBC was supposed to attend but was not sure why they did not show up.
Measure S, which is on the ballot on the March 7 Los Angeles County election, would impose a two-year moratorium on construction that increases development density. The measure would also prevent developers from conducting their own environmental impact reports, and calls for a public review of the city’s general plan every five years.
Jamie Kennerk, the UCLA chapter chair for the California Public Interest Research Group, urged students to participate in the March 7 city elections. She said there is generally a lower student voter turnout, but this election is especially important because she thinks Measure S would increase housing costs for students.
“I have friends who pay nearly $1,000 a month just to live here,” she said. “If Measure S passes, these prices will only go up.”
[Related: New USAC campaign encourages students to vote ‘no’ on LA’s Measure S]
David Levitus, a representative from the Goes Too Far, Stop Measure S campaign, said he thinks the measure would not curtail developer influence on the City Council. He added he thinks only campaign finance reform, which is not included in the measure, would accomplish that.
Levitus also said he thinks major backers of Measure S, such as Michael Weinstein, the president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, are out of touch with the city’s housing needs.
“One of the only reasons why we have this measure is because Michael Weinstein didn’t like the fact that two new high-rise buildings blocked his view of the Hollywood sign,” he said. “Weinstein is now taking his grudge (out) on the rest of the city.”
Levitus also said 90 percent of future affordable housing projects would not be able to move forward if Measure S passed.
GSA President Michael Skiles said he thinks housing is already an issue for many students and the city needs to make it easier for developers to build housing.
“We have students sleeping in student government offices in Kerckhoff, we have students commuting all the way from Modesto,” he said. “Passing this measure would make prices go through the roof.”
Sands said he thinks UCLA will eventually become a commuter campus unless Measure S fails and more housing is constructed in Westwood.
“We are one of the first universities in the country to have a homeless shelter for students. Think about that,” he said. “If you don’t vote for anything else, vote no on Measure S.”
Creed said that while he agrees with many aspects of Measure S, he opposes the measure’s two-year moratorium on construction that increases development density. He also asked students to elect him to the city council.
“Measure S would exclude people, but we need to make sure we welcome everybody and accommodate more people,” Creed said. “The measure would make the city more crowded, and I don’t have to tell UCLA students about crowding.”
Voters can currently vote by mail in the Los Angeles primary municipal elections, or vote in a polling booth March 7.
