His name is YJ Draiman, and he wants to be your next Mayor

His name is YJ Draiman, and he wants to be your next Mayor. 

                He’s agreed to let me use his campaign material to introduce him to the readers of this column. He’s aware this is not an endorsement—that other candidates may ask for the same courtesy. He’s OK with that.

   The son of European immigrants, YJ Draiman was born in 1949. He was reared in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from High School, he studied Engineering in New York City. In 1971, he got married and went to work as a Mechanical Engineer in the printing industry.

    In 1975, YJ moved to Chicago where he initially worked as an Administrator in a Healthcare facility. But for most of his adult life, YJ has been a businessman. He rehabilitated apartment buildings, he owned a Real Estate Office, he partnered in a Natural Gas Exploration venture and operated a chain of electronic stores. And in 1984, he started marketing Deregulated natural gas, natural gas futures hedging and Efficiency in Energy, Water, Telecom and Utility Services. He’s been active in this business ever since. He’s been recognized by the Illinois State Commerce Commission as a Utilities Expert.

   In 2005, YJ came to Los Angeles. He resides in Northridge and has lived there ever since.  As a resident of Northridge, he developed an interest in the Northridge East Neighborhood Council (NENC). In 2010 he was elected as a Member of the Council’s Board of Directors. Today, he’s the Secretary and he serves on both the Executive and Finance Committees. Moreover, YJ also represents the NENC on the Northridge Vision Organization. In 2010 YJ was a candidate for Councilman in District 12^th.  YJ is currently working on his PHD in Energy conservation.

   YJ Draiman wants to be your Mayor! He feels his successful business experience has given him the skills, abilities and insights needed to balance the interests of the City’s very diverse communities. In the end, YJ believes all Angelinos (himself included) expect City government to be effective and efficient—to provide excellent services at an affordable price.

   To achieve those goals, YJ is committed to an ambitious jobs program: he’ll bring back those businesses that were forced—by the City’s high tax rate—to leave Los Angeles. Moreover, he’ll actively support the creation of new businesses in renewable energy and energy conservation.

   YJ reminds Angelinos, “Don’t forget that our City normally gets more sunlight than any other city in America. That fact must be used to our advantage. We will determine if it’s feasible to call Los Angeles The Solar City.  We will explore the possibility of turning the whole City into  “The World Capital of Renewable Energy’. That would attract billions of investment dollars to Los Angeles. It would facilitate the start-up of many small, energy-related businesses. It would create jobs and generate tax revenues.”

   But Los Angeles has several problems that demand immediate attention. YJ agrees that the City’s civil service system does not appear to be well-managed. One thing is clear: The people of Los Angeles should not be expected to sit and watch while their leaders spend 60 percent of the City budget to support an under-utilized workforce. And asking budgetary departments to manage themselves—without effective accountability—doesn’t serve the public interest.

   Recently, questions have been raised about the City’s tax collection procedure. It’s speculated that the City regularly fails to collect all the taxes it’s owed. Cynics ask if there’s a connection between City Hall’s annual budget gap and the chronic failure to collect all the taxes owed. YJ doesn’t share that cynicism, but he does think an independent audit may be useful.

   YJ is a family man. He and his wife, Miriam, have two adult sons, David 39 a lead singer for Disturbed and Benjamin, 36 a psychologist. He’s at a point in his life where he feels he can give something back to the country that has treated his family so well. He’d welcome comments/question from those who read this column, and can be reached by e-mail yjdraiman@yjdraiman.org.

Are LA voters angry enough to change the current administration at Los Angeles City Hall???

Are LA voters angry enough to change the current administration at Los Angeles City Hall???

LA voters in the March 2011 Elections voted for incumbents - People do not care, why???

Why do we think LA city election on March 5, 2013 will be any different???

I would think with the poor performance and dismal track record by the current administration, the voters would demand to change the current administration at LA City Hall.

3 of the current LA Mayoral candidates are mostly recycled LA City Council members who have proven themselves unworthy by their repeated failure to solve the City's problems and Council staff members who have demonstrated their loyalty and obedience to their pockets, like well-trained dogs.

The corruption in LA government must be stopped. Public corruption in LA City Hall "pay-to-play''.

The performance of the current administrations borders on criminal neglect.

In order to move forward, we must educate the voters, let them know that the current administration goals are business as usual, there will be no significant changes and the city will be heading into bankruptcy. The escalating costs of pensions and benefits will drain most of the city budget as we head into 2020. The increased taxes and fees on residents and businesses will push people and businesses to leave the city. This again will reduce revenues to the city.

The city must initiate an austerity program. Cut salaries and benefits across the board, increase efficiency and performance. The Police Department should utilize civil service employees for clerical work, not Police Officers. The city must tighten its belt and reduce taxes and fees, streamline bureaucracy. Promote the health of existing businesses and actively go after new businesses. Any city employee who is not performing his job to standards should be put on suspension without pay or benefits and if such action has not improved the workers performance, the worker/employee should be terminated. The city must utilize its most expensive resource, its employees more efficiently, promote a good work environment and reward exceptional performance. People must realize that if they do not do their job, they will have no job and no means of support. The city must streamline management and reduce management costs. A high administrative cost is not prudent and not sustainable. LA's employee costs are one of the highest in the country. We need a change in attitude, and that starts at the top. As they say in good leadership, "follow me".

The main question is, why LA voters don't care, why they are resigned to accept failure and diminishing LA city services.

Can we not find a leader who will motivate City Hall and initiate hard choices to bring the city to financial health?

City elections should be held on the first Tuesday of November with all the other elections to Federal, County & State.

It will reduce costs and increase voter turnout.

The peoples brigade for honest government

YJ Draiman

http://www.yjdraimanformayor.org

PS

"The choice we face in Los Angeles and as a nation is simple: Do we want the clean energy and conservation technologies of tomorrow to be invented in America by American innovators, made by American workers and sold around the world, or do we want to concede those jobs to our competitors?" Asks Energy Specialist YJ Draiman. "We can and must compete for those jobs." In Los Angeles, we have the technology, the climate, the resources and the manpower. Let us proceed with conviction.

YJ Draiman

http://www.yjdraimanformayor.com

If you want to bring LA back to economic prosperity

Elect YJ Draiman for Mayor of LA