Foothill Cities Blog Blamed for Passage of LA County Transit Measure R

In a wave of bitter recrimination, opponents of the Metropolitan Transit Authority's Measure R, another half cent sales tax increase for transportation, blamed the now-defunct Foothill Cities Blog for the defeat.

"We were counting on Foothill Cities to be there when we needed it," lamented a chastened Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich. "There was nothing in Measure R for the San Gabriel Valley, and we frankly expected Foothill Cities to point that out to its wide readership. But Foothill Cities has been silent on this issue for more than six weeks."

In fact Foothill Cities has been off the air for almost seven weeks. A lonely note claiming a server crash is all that now greets the visitor to thefcblog.com. According to Publius, the founder of the Foothill Cities Blog, "This was a major technological error. Centinel is on it." Sure.

Mayor Ellen Taylor of Claremont, secretly very happy to have another half-percent added to her shopping cart, making Claremont still less competitive with Montclair Plaza, nonetheless put on her game face: "We just don't understand why the voters would have done this. I published a letter with all the arguments in the Daily Bulletin and even in the Claremont Courier. If only the Foothill Cities Blog had covered it. This is really, really sad."

Pomona City Council member George Hunter, whose name was left off the ballot argument in a conspiracy that included Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean C. Logan, piled on. "Foothill Cities bears a heavy responsibility for the passage of this measure. We had counted on that blog, and it wasn't there." Councilmember Hunter called us from his car with this quote; he was stuck in traffic on the 71 at Mission Blvd in Pomona, an Intersection From Hell that will not be addressed by Measure R funds.

As of this writing Measure R appears to have passed with a mere 18,080 vote margin over the 2/3 of the 2.4 million voters who inked a preference, one way or the other, for the measure. It is unclear whether late absentee or provisional ballots could possibly change the outcome. But with the aforementioned Registrar-Recorder Dean C. Logan counting the votes, no worries; right?

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a key supporter of Measure R, was ecstatic. "Now we can build the subway to the sea for my Westside supporters, and to hell with those hicks in the San Gabriel Valley. Who wants to go there, anyway? Gold Line Schmold Line." He added, "I'm just grateful we weren't up against the Foothill Cities Blog."

Supervisors Gloria Molina and Don Knabe issued a joint statement blaming the Foothill Cities Blog. "A shocking abdication of responsibility," the statement said.

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All quotes in this post were made up.