Measure S is a proposition on the ballot in the March 7th Los Angeles election. If it passes, it would stop most new construction in LA from being built for two years.

It would also ruin the city.

Is that an exaggeration? Maybe. But also: maybe not!

Los Angeles is currently the least affordable city in the US when you account for median income, and it has the largest unsheltered homeless population by tens of thousands.

The primary cause of these problems is a housing shortage, especially affordable housing. LA needs to build a lot more places for people to live, as quickly as possible. If the housing supply grows, then costs don’t rise as quickly, more people can afford to live here, and fewer people get thrown out of their apartments by landlords who want to charge more. LA barely avoids becoming a luxury playground-fortress for billionaires like San Francisco is doomed to be.

But maybe the scariest thing about Measure S, to me is that it’s basically the whim of one rich guy.

• Prop 61, which was supposed to lower the prices that public employees pay for drugs
• Prop 60, which would force porn actors to wear condoms

Two normal things for the people to vote on, as the Founding Fathers intended.

Michael Weinstein’s ballot initiatives are designed to benefit Michael Weinstein.

• The porn czar had to be Michael Weinstein.
• He would get paid by the state to do this job (watch porn and sue people over it).
• The state wouldn’t be allowed to fire him, unless it got a majority vote from both houses of the state legislature.
• Even then, he could only be fired with “good cause.” Like… not watching enough porn, I guess.

(The story of Weinstein’s lifelong condom-pushing is significantly too convoluted and weird to even get into here, but read this Vice article if you want to know more about it.)

Weinstein’s drug bill, meanwhile, would have made it the law that the prices paid by state employee HMOs for drugs couldn’t be higher than the discounted price the VA pays. Sounds great! But it exempted certain HMOs from the rule… including the HMO Michael Weinstein himself runs. He also once again wrote in a rule allowing him to sue people who violated the law, while having the state pay his legal fees.

Michael Weinstein peers out the window of his corner office on the 21st floor. Hollywood is growing all around him. In every direction, there are construction cranes, dirt pits and street closures.

“It’s just ungodly,” he says.

Very chill, approachable guy. Not at all supervillainy.

Michael Weinstein doesn’t spend his own money on his political causes. He spends money donated by other people to the AIDS foundation he runs. 

As of last Friday, AHF pumped even more into the campaign fund.

• $10 – Be a Friend of AHF
• $50 – Help Purchase Medical Supplies
• $100 – Help Save a Life
• $500 – Trains a Physician in the Provision of HIV/AIDS Medical Care
• $1000 – Provides HIV/AIDS Treatment and Care to Five Patients for a Year
• $5000 – Provides HIV/AIDS Treatment and Care for 25 Patients for a year
• $10000 – Supports HIV/AIDS Prevention & Care Worldwide

No option for “Help Finance a Local Ballot Initiative to Stop the Construction of Apartment Complexes in Los Angeles.”

I looked around some more. Couldn’t find any mention of any of their ballot initiatives ANYWHERE ON THE SITE.