Hahn pushes anti-gang tax

City Councilwoman Janice Hahn was speaking to Emma Schafer's Current Affairs Forum this afternoon, when she dutifully went over the latest developments at LAX and the Port of Los Angeles (the port is in her district and she's chairwoman of the Council committee that monitors LAX). Then she switched over to her proposed parcel tax to fund anti-gang programs in Los Angeles, and you could hear her tone turn passionate. The City Council will vote tomorrow on putting the measure on November's ballot. It calls for a flat $3-a-month tax, which is not a lot to help fund after-school and job training programs and might actually provide a small salve on the city's gang epidemic. But her timing is bad: Several other measures will ask voters to cough up tax money and with the economy in such trouble the concern is that voters will turn down everything. Another problem is that a two-thirds majority will be needed to get her proposal through. But first she must get enough votes on the Council. Hahn acknowledged that she has an uphill climb, though she noted that with so many potential supporters going to the polls this fall to vote for Obama, the timing might actually be good. On Wednesday, Hahn said she would remove a last-minute provision that would have allowed the tax to be increased every year. The insertion had raised the ire of several council members.

*Corrected post