ValleyVote Update for 10-13-00 |
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THE LOS ANGELES PRESS CLUB
The Los Angeles Press club invites you this Sunday to a debate between candidates for Mayor of Los Angeles and leaders of the three secession movements that have qualified for the ballot in 2002 from San Pedro, Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley
"SECESSION AND THE CITY"
Who: Antonio Villaraigosa and Steve Soboroff, candidates for Mayor of L.A. have confirmed to attend.
Richard Close, Chairman, Valley Vote, Fares Wehbe, Hollywood Vote and Andrew Mardesich, Harbor Study Foundation
Sunday, Oct. 15, from 10:30 to -Noon at New Ivar Theatre, 1605 N. Ivar (corner Ivar and Selma), Hollywood
It's Free Light refreshments (free) will be served
"Secession and the City" asks leading mayoral candidates to address the issues that have impelled them to seek the separate incorporation of three new cities -- reducing the population of Los Angeles by half if they succeed. In a give-and-take format with secession leaders
The event is taking place during the Hollywood Farmer's Market, when Selma Ave. and Ivar Ave. are turned over to pedestrians, please look for parking either at the LA Film School (just north of Sunset on Ivar) or behind the Doolittyle Theatre, just south of Hollywood Blvd. on Vine. Free parking is also available on Selma east of Vine and west of Cahuenga, on Ivar north of Hollywood and south of Sunset, along Sunset, along Hollywood Blvd., and on Cahuenga Blvd.
By Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer
A new law signed by Gov. Gray Davis two weeks ago makes it nearly impossible for the city of Los Angeles to overturn in court a county agency's decision whether to put San Fernando Valley secession on the 2002 ballot, the head of the cityhood movement said Wednesday.
If the analysis by Valley VOTE Chairman Richard Close is correct, it's good news for secession supporters, who feared a flurry of lawsuits [paid for by the LA taxpayers, which includes the Valley.] if the Local Agency Formation Commission ruled in their favor and put the issue on the ballot in 2002.
"Essentially this makes it bulletproof," said Close, who is an attorney and an alternate member of LAFCO. The assistant county counsel for LAFCO issues, John Krattli, said he could not confirm Close's analysis, but would study the issue and report back at the commission's next meeting in two weeks.
Assembly Bill 2838, a lengthy bill from Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, made major revisions to the way LAFCOs throughout the state operate, giving them greater authority over planning and ensuring their funding. Close believes the measure also tightens grounds for appeal of LAFCO decisions by giving it stronger governmental powers.
A key provision says to overturn a LAFCO's decision "any inquiry shall extend only to whether there was fraud or a prejudicial abuse of discretion." That limits appeals to wrongdoing by commission members, rather than disagreements with their interpretations of law, Close said.
Hertzberg spokesman Paul Hefner said the bill evolved from recommendations by the Commission on Local Governance for the 21st Century, a group Hertzberg assembled to look at long-range governing issues. He added that the provision brings the law "into line with recent court decisions on the issue."
If the commission rules against Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment, however, Close said, the new law makes little difference because the group lacks the legal and budgetary firepower of the city to file a successful appeal anyway.
Assistant City Attorney Frederick Merkin, who handles secession issues, could not be reached Wednesday for comment.
Now that our governor has decided to screw Southern California, especially the Valley, while spending our tax dollars, it's time to think about drawing a line at Santa Barbara, cutting ourselves loose from Northern California and making Los Angeles the state capital for South California.
Let's see how long Davis would survive without his golden goose.
Jim Rowe Chatsworth
The struggle of the San Fernando Valley just to get a chance to have a more democratic and responsive government has been long and difficult because of laws that relegated the community to colonial status.
More legal barriers to representative government for the Valley fell in recent days when Gov. Gray Davis signed into law two bills that were authored by Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg of Van Nuys and one by Assemblyman Tony Cardenas of Panorama City.
Less important than lifting the City Council's veto power over secession and other obstacles in the way of self-government, the new laws will make it easier for the 1.4 million Valley residents to someday consider whether they want to have their own city.
One of the Hertzberg bills makes sure that Valley residents will have better representation than they now have by requiring that a Valley City Council have one member for every 100,000 residents vs. one for 250,000 residents that exists now in Los Angeles. [Note this was fully supported by Valley Vote] It repealed restrictions would have limited the Valley to five council seats.
The Cardenas measure gives newly created cities authority over redevelopment projects within their boundaries. That's potentially a big revenue source. The Valley's four redevelopment areas generated almost $4.5 million this year in tax revenues and given the heavy-handed tactics employed by the downtown power structure, fears were high that Los Angeles would try to keep the money.
But the most far-reaching change restructures the 57 state regional planning agencies known as Local Agency Formation Commissions by making each autonomous from local counties.
That autonomy now takes control away from the Los Angeles City Council, which tried to dictate the terms of a cityhood study and refused to adequately pay for a study that the people successfully petitioned and demanded.
The third measure opens the books so that all can see who the financial supporters are in the debate over cityhood and ensures that Los Angeles city and county will pay LAFCO's costs instead of dunning petitioners.
We applaud Hertzberg and Cardenas for pushing these bills that will help limit the abuses of power by City Hall downtown.
Even as they spend $300 million to turn City Hall into an earthquake-proof citadel, the walls of power in Los Angeles are crumbling with half the city considering secession.
That the Valley now has legislators who will fight for its interests -- at least some of the time -- is a sign of City Hall's weakness and the growing strength of the community.
The Valley has never gotten its fair share, let alone the Northeast Valley. If the Valley were to be its own city, the Northeast Valley would be first to get the much-needed attention. Many of Valley VOTE's signatures and volunteers came from the Northeast Valley. One has only to look to communities such as Mission Hills, Pacoima and Sylmar and talk to those in the community. You will find an overwhelming support for the study and even secession.
This whole process has been very technical and fraught with land mine after land mine. It's time for the Valley to unite and understand that Valley VOTE has followed every rule, every law and every statute in this historic groundbreaking rebirth of a forgotten community.
Michael Trujillo Mission Hills
By Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer
Bills intended to ease San Fernando Valley secession were inked into law by Gov. Gray Davis on Wednesday in what supporters say will almost assure a ballot vote in 2002.
One measure will overhaul policies unchanged in 40 years by empowering local agencies to control urban sprawl and force those in a debate over cityhood to disclose financial supporters.
Another law would give new cities -- such as the Valley if it secedes -- broader representation through a larger city council. Both bills, Assembly Bill 2838 and AB185 respectively, were authored by Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Hertzberg said Wednesday. "Another great day for the San Fernando Valley."
The new legislation restructures 57 state regional planning agencies known as Local Agency Formation Commissions by making each autonomous from local counties. Such agencies will now have the power to oversee annexations and secessions, from start to finish.
In the event of a new, large city -- such as the San Fernando Valley, population 1.4 million -- new laws call for LAFCO to create a city council of at least 14 members and a mayor elected citywide. Current laws require new cities to have five council members, with one of them serving as mayor.
Los Angeles LAFCO Executive Director Larry Calemine supported the new legislation and said the commission will study whether to require financial disclosure by those on both sides of the secession debate.
The governor also signed a bill by Assemblyman Tony Cardenas, D-Panorama City, that would give newly created cities authority over redevelopment projects within their boundaries. The Valley's four redevelopment areas generated almost $4.5 million this year in tax revenue, government figures show.
Advocates of a Valley secession study said Davis' actions increase the chance of a cityhood vote by November 2002.
"It's a very exciting day, with the governor signing those (three) bills," said Richard Close, chairman of Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment. "It's all part of a plan to have a Valley city where residents get better representation than they get.
"These bills make the probability of a vote much higher."
Not true, said secession opponents at City Hall. "I'm not sure this necessarily changes the timing of a vote, but allows when a vote comes forward a more comprehensive and complete package," said Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski.
"The mayor continues to say secession is not good for the city," said Peter Hidalgo, a spokesman for Mayor Richard Riordan. "The ones who don't win are the low-income people."
But Hertzberg, who wrote six bills to ease the secession process but remains officially neutral on the secession debate, said solutions are needed to empower local residents. "People in the Valley need a sense of community, a sense of place, and L.A.'s just too big," he said. "To me, that's what this secession issue is all about.
The San Fernando Valley ought to receive more than just 15 percent of the added police budget from the federal government. The Valley is about half the size of Los Angeles and about one-third of its population. Crimes do occur here and too often.
We especially need more police presence from midnight until dawn.
Ronald Rushton North Hollywood
Sun Valley would be a good city to live in. If it weren't for the granny houses, the gangbangers, all the unlicensed dogs, and the Democratic public officeholders, who turn a blind eye to the problems.
David A. Edwards Sun Valley
By Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer
With the filing Monday of petitions to join a secession study, residents of Hollywood joined a powerful grass-roots movement that threatens to crack apart what Los Angeles' boosters call the "Capital City of the 21st Century."
Neighborhoods equal to half the city's population -- from its northern suburbs in the San Fernando Valley to its symbolic heart, Hollywood, to its southernmost border at the Los Angeles Harbor -- are trying to break away from Los Angeles and form their own cities.
City Hall has failed to serve Los Angeles' 3.5 million residents over a long period of time, they say, and the neighborhoods of the sprawling areas could do better if given the chance. Taking a lead role are activists in the Valley, the suburban home of 1.3 million people made famous by countless pop culture references -- from songs like Frank Zappa's "Valley Girl" to films like "Chinatown" and "Boogie Nights."
Los Angeles is "too big to deliver local services effectively or efficiently," said Richard Close, chairman of Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment, the Valley secession group. "We're trying to create local control over local decisions, to make the city even better."
Valley activists have also launched efforts to break up the mammoth Los Angeles Unified School District, and the county Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
And activists in other parts of the city say if the Valley isn't getting its fair share, who is? They point to the necessity of getting 25 percent of all registered voters in breakaway areas to sign secession study petitions as proof of how widespread the discontent is.
"L.A. does not work," said Gene La Pietra, founder of the Hollywood secession movement. "Everywhere you go in the city, people always feel the other part of the city's getting the services, but the fact is nobody's getting them." For example, he said, after crime in the Hollywood Division of the Los Angeles Police Department went down, the city's response was to transfer officers to other divisions.
City officials, however, disagree. They think the city has been working well and is improving.
In the past few years, as secessionist voices have gotten louder, the city has made some attempts to keep the city together by appeasing them. Most notable was a series of voter-approved changes to the City Charter -- supported by Mayor Richard Riordan but opposed by most City Council members -- which took effect last month and which now form one of the pillars of the anti-secession argument.
Riordan's press secretary, Peter Hidalgo, said the mayor believes the new charter, which created a system of advisory neighborhood councils [un elected and appointed by the mayor and his henchman with the majority business owners and nor residents of the "neighborhood] and a Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, will make the city more responsive to its residents.
It also concentrated somewhat more power in the Mayor's Office, and Hidalgo argued that the mayor should be given a chance to use his new power to make the city more efficient.
"The voters overwhelmingly supported a new charter reform program, which clearly allows more local involvement with city government and even gives local authority for neighborhood-related issues," Hidalgo said. "Which brings Angelenos and city government much closer than they have been in decades."
The mayor, City Council and city employees' union vehemently oppose the secession movements, but several public opinion polls have found a majority of city voters in favor of it.
The issue now is being studied by a county agency to determine how the city could be broken up, and could go on the ballot in November 2002 with voter majorities needed both in the seceding community and the city as a whole.
The secession movement is an outgrowth of many factors, experts say, including the massive sprawl of Los Angeles that leads to a feeling of disconnection and political apathy among its residents. The Valley and Harbor areas in particular are the most geographically isolated sections of the city.
The Valley, which was nothing but farmland when it was annexed in 1915, is separated from the rest of L.A. by the Santa Monica Mountains, leaving only two freeways and a few surface roads as congested links to downtown. The Harbor area is connected only by a thin sliver of land in a shape designed to give Los Angeles political control over the economically valuable harbor.
Some say the separation between the Valley and the Harbor is also a reflection of a larger society. "I think government itself -- not just the city of Los Angeles, but in general -- has become faceless, too large, too unwieldy," said Joel Kotkin, a senior fellow at Pepperdine University's Davenport Institute for Public Policy.
In fact, he thinks that a new Valley city of 1.3 million -- which would be the nation's sixth largest as well as its richest, safest and most diverse city -- would still be too large to serve its residents. He would rather see cities a tenth that size.
Years ago, he added, when Los Angeles was still developing, the idea of a large city was attractive because it gave economies of scale. But now that technology has made communication and transportation so easy, there is much less need for large, concentrated downtowns and big cities, he argued.
"L.A. was one of the pioneers of annexation and bigger is better," Kotkin said. "And in many ways, it was better. I remember when I moved to L.A. in the mid '70s, I was always struck by how much better the city of L.A. functioned than the independent cities or unincorporated areas like West Hollywood or Culver City. Those places looked pretty rundown. Now I think it's the opposite."
Some political experts think if the three secession drives are successful, it could spark a chain reaction, both within the remaining portions of Los Angeles and throughout the nation. "East Coasters are watching Los Angeles to see if it's successful or not," said Philip J. Ethington, a University of Southern California history professor who studies urban annexation and growth issues.
"This is going to be an example case. California typically has been setting the national trend on a lot of these major issues."
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