Valley VOTE is a diverse, Valley-wide coalition of San Fernando Valley residents, educators, business leaders, community activists and organizations who support a LAFCO study (Los Angeles County Local Agency Formation Commission) on the issue of creating an independent Valley City.

MEDIA ALERT - November 6, 2001 

) Valley VOTE calls on City to Negotiate in good faith. Valley VOTE is asking Mayor Hahn to live up to his pledge that the City of Los Angeles would constructively participate in the LAFCO negotiations in an attempt to create the best possible plan with sufficient details for the voters. The Mayor and other city officials have been critical of the LAFCO proposal, claiming that the proposal does not have enough details.

LAFCO intended that the negotiations to be an opportunity for both parties to resolve as many unanswered issues and address those details. Yet in the first two of the four scheduled negotiating sessions, the City of Los Angeles representatives have failed to put forth a single proposal. At the last session, the LAFCO negotiation facilitator repeatedly asked the City of Los Angeles negotiators for their proposals. The City once again had none to offer.

In each session the City negotiators found excuses not to discuss the real issues. In the first session they argued that secession could not occur due to approximately 185 administrative positions allocated to the new City out of 38,000 employees. In the second session they argued that a State statute allowing a new City to repay transition service costs “within” five years would be a hardship to the City. When Valley VOTE proposed reimbursing the City monthly for their costs, the City questioned LAFCO's ability to enforce such an agreement, even though it was demonstrated that similar arrangements are routinely a part of other LAFCO Terms and Conditions around the state.

Negotiations should be about making progress to agree upon answers to the questions posed by LAFCO, not just putting up obstacles. The test of Mayor Hahn's pledge is not whether the City shows up at the table, but is the City actually ready and willing to make progress in the negotiations. The City's tactics may serve the purpose of those City officials that want to block Cityhood but their intentional refusal to negotiate common sense solutions is potentially at the expense of City residents if LAFCO sets forth its own solutions.

At the last negotiation session, Valley VOTE put forth a sixteen-point proposal that provided precise details about how the transition period would work. The City refused to negotiate those details. Any agreements that resulted from the negotiations could have been made a part of the LAFCO terms and conditions and become legally binding on the parties.

Good faith negotiations are more than just showing up at the table. Valley VOTE believes that the City has an obligation to all residents of Los Angeles to negotiate in good faith a reorganization plan that presents to the voters in November of next year the two best new cities possible, a new Valley City and a new, smaller Los Angeles City. Valley VOTE believes that 75% of the issues can be resolved through these negotiations and be made a part of LAFCO's terms and conditions. We are calling upon the City to cease playing games and to come to the table ready to negotiate in good faith for the last remaining negotiation sessions.

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