Craig X Rubin for Mayor Goals

• STOP GOVERMENT DEALING As Mayor of Los Angeles I will defend the will of the people of the State of California and will protect medical marijuana clubs from DEA intervention. It is my opinion that prohibition is causing more problems than it is helping. more
  More Americans per capita are in jail as compared to any other country in the world including Russia and China. I’d rather see City recourses used to regulate these clubs rather than shut them down. It seems hard to believe that the United States government, our government, who claims to be fighting drugs, is also dealing drugs, but it is true. In order to fight the criminals law enforcement sometimes pretends to be criminals and engages in the act of drug dealing. It would seem hard to believe that officials working for the government wouldn't always have the public's interest in mind, but that sometimes happens as in the case of the oil and gases leases that were signed by the State of CA. It is my personal and professional opinion that this type of corruption exists in when the government gets involved in dealing drugs. When I am Mayor it will no longer be the practice of my administration to allow government agents free reign to deal drugs in the City of Angels.
• MAKING SMART CARS As Mayor I’ll work with car makers to get them to begin making cars in Los Angeles again. I live near the former GM plant in Panorama City that is now a mall selling stuff made in China. more
  
  If Los Angeles is going to thrive in the future we need a vigorous vibrant manufacturing sector making the things people of Southern California actually use. That is why I’ll work to bring this industry back to the City of Los Angels.
  
  This is my understanding of how the economy works. There are only so many ways to create wealth. Printing more money is not one of them. Printing money creates debt and devalues our dollar. Currently the U.S. is trying to print its way out of debt. It is my personal opinion that this strategy is not going to work.
  
  The people of Los Angeles are going to need to strengthen our own economy as our national leaders search for direction. These are the four ways that I understand to wealth creation:
  
  

  1. 1. The basis of all wealth is the earth or "natural resources." Taking something from the earth or growing something in the earth is where any "economy" comes from. Some examples of things taken from the earth are raw materials such as metals (iron ore, gold, and silver); also minerals (oil, coal, diamonds and natural gas) are taken from the earth for wealth creation. Trees, cotton, hemp, corn, soy, tobacco, beans and grapes are a few of the things that can be grown in the earth. Lastly, the earth itself... the buying and trading of real estate.
  2. 2. The next step or way to create wealth is manufacturing. This sector of the economy involves taking the natural resources of the earth and converting them into usable and marketable products. At this level of the economy there are both skilled and unskilled jobs that typically pay well.
     
     This is the step in the wealth creation process where iron is converted into steel. Gold and silver are turned into jewelry as well as used in industry. Hydrocarbon based minerals are converted into fuels and the resources that are grown in the earth also go through a further refining and manufacturing process. For example, beef becomes a meal in a restaurant and wheat becomes bread in a supermarket. Hemp becomes a new pair of jeans and wood fiber becomes paper or composite board.
  3. 3. Providing "Goods and Services" to a community is another way to generate an income for a person. Manufacturing is a great way to generate goods and products for sale, but how do they get sold?
     
     Entire industries are based on simply getting the goods produced by manufactures to market. Usually the more expensive the manufactured product is the more profit for the company and community. That is why bringing car manufacturing back to our City would be great for our local economy. Typically high end manufactured products have higher skilled and higher paying opportunities for workers and or anyone involved in the process of bringing those goods to market.
     
     Manufacturing high-value, a high-tech, desired product, such as fuel efficient computerized cars, involves creativity and economic risk, which requires the goods and services of skilled professionals. Advertising Agencies, Law Firms and Engineering Professionals are types of businesses that will benefit greatly from a revitalized manufacturing base.
  4. 4. Appealing to the spiritual needs of the community is the last way to create wealth. This is the competition for the hearts and minds of a population. These are the "Entertainers and Spiritual" advisors of a community. Only wealthy societies such as ours can sponsor great athletic teams such as the Lakers and Dodgers as well as psychologists and dog gurus. Our churches and religious leaders ad wealth to our society as does the television and film industry. The Los Angeles entertainment industry actually sells the spirit of our City to the whole world through Hollywood Movies and television shows. There would be no television or graphic artists without the underlying economy to support such things.
     
     People cannot live without air, water and food and as Mayor, the spiritual and earthly leader of the community; I'll work tirelessly to see that the quality of all Angelinos lives are improved as a result of my being Mayor of our City. I'll reduce taxes and simply make the City of Angels a better place to live.
     
     I know this is an extremely brief view of my outlook on the economy, but the point of telling people of Los Angeles my views is to say that I understand where wealth comes from and how to generate it for our City. We need clean air, we need clean drinking water, but we also need jobs for our people to be secure as well, so I'll work to bring clean industry and forward thinking, innovative companies to our city. One of my goals is to bring high-tech-fuel-efficient-super-cool car manufacturing to the City of Angels and I’ll do this with tax incentives that create high paying jobs that profit our City.
• NO MORE RUSH HOUR No one likes traffic or the high prices for gasoline. One of my solutions for using less gas is to keep people spending less time in traffic and more time with their families. more
  Some people thought that four dollar a gallon gas would be enough to end the City's traffic problem. I am sure people are more thoughtful about where they are going because of these prices, but what can the City do to save you money? Help you to spend less time in traffic.
  
  As Mayor I'll be in the City of Angels on a daily basis, unlike our current Mayor, working hard to improve the lives of ordinary citizens. The first thing I am going to do is make our city easier to get around in. I will improve our bicycle paths, looking into creating a motorcycle lane and end 18 wheel trucks driving through our City in the middle of rush hour (from the hours of 7-9AM and 4-6PM) just as we stop the parking lane from being used during those hours.
  
  When I am Mayor City workers will work on City streets at night on major thoroughfares; the City will keep streets smooth and well paved, synchronizing lights on major North/South and East/West arteries and the City will be open to resident's ideas on further ways to run our roads and transportation systems better. Once these significant contributors to traffic have been eliminated increased productivity will increase City revenues and save residents countless thousands of dollars on wasted gasoline.
• A GREENER LOS ANGELS The average bite of food eaten in the City of Angeles travels 1,500 miles before reaching your mouth. This is not efficient and leads to a dependency on outside sources for our main source of human energy, food. more
  It is my idea to lease City owned land to entrepreneurs who are interested in developing hydroponic towers for local food production. This will save energy and give the City of Angels more security incase of disaster our source of sustenance (or at least a small percentage) will be closer to us. As Mayor I will also commit the City resources to being more energy aware and do what we can to save money and energy for the tax payers.