They Stopped Charging Me For Paper Bags At The Ralph's

[Dino Velvet]

I knew this would work. Since they removed the plastic bags at the register, I stop by the produce aisle first thing in the store. I roll down the plastic bag thing eyeballing the produce guy with a smile until the bags are piled at my feet. I take them all however many there may be. Then, after I'm done shopping I tell the manager at the checkstand I brought my own bags after taking them from you and I also want credit for it then hand the boxboy all the bags wadded-up. Worked like a charm. No more paying for bags. Ever. A big fuck you to the government too.

[Tina Francis]

They still have plastic bags at the checkout. BUT you have to pay for them. This is all a scam, promoted and supported by the supermarkets just to make more money. A month ago, I was given a PLASTIC bag; now I have to pay for it.

[Dino Velvet]

There are no checks and balances in LA government. Two-party rule isn't much of a choice and one-party rule is no choice. Still waiting for Garcetti to bend over for the DWP. Just got my bill in the mail with the rest of the mail supposed to go to another address. Mail carrier retards.

http://www.laweekly.com/imager/quote-from-mayor-quimby-in-the-classic-simpsons-burlesque-house-epis/b/big/4172488/cbdc/garcettimusttakeaction.jpg

[Dino Velvet]

I think I'm going to call KFI's John & Ken and try to get LA residents to do what I did. Nice fellas.

http://3i26kd3p1usa3cefqi1ay96t13o6.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/headerrightjohnandken_1.jpghttp://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef014e8c3feefd970d-600wi

[Westheangelino]

I don't get it. Is it really that difficult to bring your own bags? And if paying ten cents for a paper bag is such a hardship for you, then I will gladly mail you a check for $10. That should last your through the summer.

I don't disagree with you that the supermarkets have a hand in this because they will make money off of it. However, given the current for the corporation, by the corporation, of the corporation attitude of the American govt. at every level, this is really the only way to get anything done. The facts are there: plastic bags SUCK. Now, I will readily admit that the processes that make the reusable atrocities they sell at Ralph's are really no better, BUT you're not going to see them floating on our coastline causing the state and city govts tens of millions to clean up. It's a step in the right direction of using meaningless shit. Hopefully the next step is regulating out excessive packaging. For example, in Canada, you go REFILL your laundry detergent, making it cheaper for you, the company, and reducing waste. Just look at how much space your tide container takes up in the recycle bin. Times that by 300 million every month of so. Get the point?

I suppose you think smog checks in CA were a bad idea too? Do car dealerships and repair shops make tons of money off everyone having to do semi annual smog checks? Yes. Has California, despite a huge increase in people and thus cars, actually reduced their pollution levels over the last 30 yrs? There was a time when L.A. would have pollution advisories telling people NOT TO GO OUTSIDE. That doesn't happen anymore.

[Dino Velvet]

It's not the money, it's the principle and the usual hypocrisy. I don't care about the plastic bags either. Just don't charge me for the damn paper bags. It's bad business. They would have been better off raising the price of the groceries a level no one would notice.

I am getting hit with taxes, fees, and needled to death by this city. I pay this one annual fee so the city can take the money I give them and use it against me. This city wipes their ass with the concept of private property rights.

[Westheangelino]

^ Can you be a little more specific?

And how familiar are you with Prop 13 and what it does has done to the California budget over the last nearly 40 years? I have no idea what you do to earn money or your net wealth, so I would really appreciate some more specifics.

[Dino Velvet]

^ Can you be a little more specific?

And how familiar are you with Prop 13 and what it does has done to the California budget over the last nearly 40 years? I have no idea what you do to earn money or your net wealth, so I would really appreciate some more specifics.

I'm not going into specifics about my finances. I know Proposition 13 has to do with property taxes as do most people who own property especially for a long time. Are you in favor of abolishing it? Wonder how popular it would be now instead of 1978.

How are your property taxes? Do you own real estate and would this also effect you?

[Westheangelino]

Prop 13 affects EVERYONE. It basically works like this: It caps property tax increases (nearly eliminates them) over time. However, for NEW property owners, this does not apply. So, if someone bought decades ago a house now valued at 1 mil, their new next door neighbor with the same valuation will pay exponentially more. This was sold to voters by corporate interests and the wealthy as a way to save grandma's house. At the time property values were soaring, far outpacing inflation. Why? It might have had something to do with CA having some of the best weather, schools at every level, public amenities and services as anywhere in the country. There were some instances where some people (especially the elderly who bought their house long in the past) were hit with property tax bills they couldn't pay. However, these anecdotal cases were not common and most people didn't realize that this would also apply to ALL property. So, corporations would get the same long term benefits.

So, a few things happened. The property market became forever distorted, limiting supply and demand, limiting new construction artificially and thus leading to further rises in property value and making it more difficult for first time owners to afford their own home.

Municipalities became starved of funds, as did the state thus leading to shittier schools, services, and nickle and diming to make up the difference (plastic bag bans, parking tickets, increased traffic fine enforcement, increased regressive taxes such as the sales tax, the lottery, etc etc etc.)

And, no, I am not a property owner. But this all affects me, and I will be able to purchase a home in the next ten years. I will have fewer options now than I did forty years ago thanks to Prop 13 and the moneyed interests that keep it alive.

I am not asking you to go into your personal finances, but even a hypothetical example of how someone, like yourself, are being hamstrung by this city would be eye opening.

[Dino Velvet]

What we need to do in the State Of California is legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana.

http://news.yahoo.com/governor-colorado-pot-market-exceeds-194759888.html

[Dino Velvet]

Proposition 13 is a sacred law to many. I understand about your wanting to level the playing field but for people who feel they have been gouged that has been the one single solitary victory they have held onto. You will find it's not up for negotiation. Maybe a politician will stick his neck out for the repeal.

I, too, hope you pick up some property and pay property tax. Good luck with that. I'm actually hoping a developer wants to make me an offer one day and am planning a remodel on the cheap for now.

[Westheangelino]

^ I think you are smart enough to know that this will NOT be happening, especially given how uneducated people are about this issue (and most things that affect their lives, sadly).

If social security is the third rail of American politics, then prop 13 is such of CA politics. Such a different situation though. Social security is clearly relateable to nearly everyone. Prop 13 is esoteric to nearly everyone, but has very powerful and vested interests behind it that will come out of the woodwork and kill any opposition or even slight reform.

Also, if this is all pissing you off so much, consider this: less than 20% of registered voters turned out in the last mayor race. Garcetti got about 185,000 votes out of a city of 4 million. So, run for mayor! Or translate that down and think of how few people need to vote for you to win a city council seat!

[Dino Velvet]

I know. I used to be bad about voting for local races myself but have been good about voting for some time.

Proposition 13 is not going away anymore than rent control is.

[thombergeron]

Dino, rent control is basically gone in the state of California. I assume your experience is with Santa Monica, which maintains one of the strictest rent control ordinances in the state. But even there, rent control does not apply to any units built after 1979.

The state legislature mandated vacancy decontrol in 1999, meaning that landlords can set rent at whatever they want between tenancies. They also exempted all single-family homes and condos from local rent controls, as well as any unit built after 1995.

So, by state law, rent control does not apply to an ever-increasing proportion of the state's housing stock. Eventually, owners of rent-controlled units are going to start making a fairness appeals to the state courts, and they'll probably win.

Also, strongly agree with Westheangelino's sentiment that Californians (and Americans) are significantly under-taxed. Tax revenues at the state and federal level are at their lowest point in over 50 years. We enjoy very low rates of taxation and the state of our government institutions reflects that.