Trick or treat? This year’s election is a real thriller, but unlike the characters in a horror film, voters have the power to determine the outcome of this story on November 3. Early voting is available from now until election day at the Topanga Library. A convenient and secure drop off box is also available there, and voters can walk in and hand their ballot to poll workers, if they prefer, but it’s too late to put ballots in the mail—they won’t arrive in time to be counted. Happy Halloween, and don’t forget to vote! Cover Art & Design by Urs Baur
We had Red Flag warnings, an extended Public Safety Power Shut-Off, and a fire last week. We have severe coastal hazards this week, and there’s the potential for heavy rains and flooding in the forecast. All of that, together with a highly fraught, high-stakes Election Day on Tuesday, November 3, and it is not surprising that so many of us are experiencing anxiety and a persistent feeling of existential dread.
Halloween offers a welcome moment of distraction from the chaos this year. The holiday has the potential to be a wet one, but rain is unlikely to dampen the spirits of canyon families, who are innovative and resilient. However, canyon drivers need to use extra caution, as rain combined with the potential for trick-or-treaters to be out on the roads is a double hazard.
Daylight saving ends at 2:00 a.m. on the morning of November 1. The current political climate is so dysfunctional that not even a bipartisan proposal to end the endless cycle of falling back and springing forth managed to pass this year. It’s probably just as well. When the president weighed in on the issue he promoted permanent daylight savings. Numerous studies on the impact of the time change on sleep cycles, heart and mental health and circadian rhythm suggest that permanent standard time would be the better option for human health.
Either way, a majority of Americans would be glad to try picking one time and sticking with it. Washington’s inability to deliver even this long-sought, remarkably uncontroversial piece of legislation says volumes.
Has there ever been a more exhausting election cycle? Entire forests have been sacrificed for the mountains of mailers that have choked the mailbox for weeks—many of them clearly the work of AI. Is anyone ever influenced to pick this candidate over that one based on an oversized glossy mailer—or ten or twelve or twenty of them?
Whether or not that toothy grin and red-white-and-blue color scheme inspires confidence—imagine how much worse it is in the battleground states where the senate majority is in play?—this election is important. Topanga voters won’t be deciding who controls Congress, but there are many issues and state-level races on this ballot that will impact all of our lives directly. It’s a long and complicated ballot, and that can be off-putting, but it’s worth persevering. Our votes carry not only the weight of our convictions, but also the weight of everyone who chooses not to vote. They leave the people who do vote with the responsibility of deciding everyone’s future.
California election officials are strongly recommending that anyone who hasn’t mailed their ballot back yet consider dropping it off in person at a voting center instead of trusting the USPS to get it there in time to be counted. The voting center at the Topanga Library is open October 31–November 3, and there are ballot drop boxes at libraries and government offices all over Los Angeles County.
Elections have consequences. They can be disappointing, but also sometimes almost miraculous.
The California red-legged frog, a species that was fast-tracked on the road to extinction, received a reprieve because voters cared enough to pass legislation to help fund the recovery of this endangered species.
Once completely extirpated from the Santa Monica Mountains, the frogs are now back. Several small but growing populations of these large and charismatic amphibians have been reestablished in recent years. The frogs have survived wildfire, drought, and storm flooding, and continue to thrive.
At their October meeting, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy awarded a Proposition 4 grant to the Friends of Oak Park Open Space Community Foundation to help red-legged frog recovery work in the Las Virgenes Creek watershed. Habitat restoration and conservation projects like this one benefit not only the frogs but a host of other threatened and endangered species that also depend on the same habitat. Californians historically care about the environment and are willing to pitch in and help save even something as small as a frog.
The impact of this project will be felt throughout the watershed and the web of life that depends on it.
Stay safe, be well. Happy Halloween!
