ValleyVote Update for 8-29-01 |
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Here are a group of stories concerning the replacement of publicly neutral Hall Bernson a valley resident from LAFCO with Cindy Miscikowski a Brentwood resident and an outspoken foe of secession on LAFCO.
Re "City hall exposed," Editorial, Aug. 23:
First off, I made the mistake of voting for Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski because she is of Polish descent and a woman, I was hoping she would do some good for Van Nuys and the San Fernando Valley. But now, the person I was going to put a lot of faith in, City Council President Alex Padilla, has already disappointed me by replacing Councilman Hal Bernson on the Local Agency Formation Commission with Miscikowski. She in no way wants to see us have any say in Valley secession.
We have a right to get general services for the San Fernando Valley that the other communities take for granted. After all, where does Miscikowski live? Brentwood. I know if the secession gets on the ballot, it will get voted in.
Joel F. Pawlowski Van Nuys
By Kimit Muston
Evidence continues to show why the other side -- the other side of the hill -- wants The Valley to stay in Los Angeles. We make them look good. Ask any one of the over-the-hill-gang what they love about L.A. and they may wax poetic for hours: The Pueblo, Hancock Park, The Lakers, museums, Silver Lake, shopping on Melrose -- but I'll bet you none of "their" L.A. includes "our" L.A.
When the Local Agency Formation Commission revealed that the MTA was spending less than 4 percent of its PATH budget in the Valley, the MTA was quick to argue that most Angelenos work downtown and that is why the MTA allocates most of its resources there. Except, that isn't true. A new study by the Brookings Institute says that only 7 percent of working Angelenos toil within even three miles of City Hall. It makes you wonder what city the MTA has been serving -- ours or theirs.
Consider Mayor James Hahn's performance before the MTA vote to approve the busway he had pledged Valley voters he was going to stop. He whined, he mused, he almost talked out loud. He's been around City Hall long enough to know how to kill a project if that is his intent. But in "their" L.A., the busway was a done deal.
The folks in Chatsworth were betrayed by their own city councilman in their battle against high-density development in their community. Pity, the Basin seemed to say, but horse trails and stables and large property lots don't fit in "their" L.A., which is already as densely populated as New York City. Besides, in "their" L.A., the developer always wins -- unless he tries to develop something "they" hold dear.
The Basin continues to shove "their" will right down our throats. Go ahead and vote for secession, they tell us, in effect; we can do whatever we want with your lives, your streets, your neighborhoods, and nothing you say will ever make any difference. Is that how you treat fellow citizens?
When the Valley complained that we were being overcharged on sewer fees, not one of our over-the-hill fellow citizens raised a voice in support. They called us complainers and ill-informed rabble rousers. And when we were proved right, did any of our fellow citizens rejoice in our victory? Not a voice, not a word, not a thought.
When it was shown by LAFCO that every year City Hall is stealing $123 million from Valley taxpayers -- taxes paid for services never delivered -- did our fellow citizens share our outrage? Were they offended that City Hall should treat taxpayers in such a shabby manner? Not a voice, not a word, not a thought.
We are not their fellow citizens. We haven't been for a long time. They do not respect us as fellow citizens. They do not think of us as fellow citizens. They do not think of us at all. Until we asked to leave.
We are so little a part of each other's daily lives, you may wonder why the Basin seems to care so much that we wish to leave. Their reaction has been absolute: There will be no secession, no division, no discussion. They cannot let us go. Without us, who will pay for their parks, their museums, their police protection, their MTA, "their" L.A?
But make no mistake. At its core, this is not about money or logic. Was it logical for Richard Riordan to call upon church leaders to declare secession "immoral"? This is about self-image -- their image of themselves as supported by their image of us. In "their" L.A., we are white wealthy suburbanites who fled the Basin to avoid crime, crowding and African-Americans. That makes us selfish, short-sighted and bigoted. And it makes them the opposite: egalitarian, wise and urbane in a 1960s liberal sort of way.
The Basin power structure has convinced themselves that Valley secession is just the passing fancy of a few hotheads. All they have to do is manipulate the voters through one election and all the anger and frustration over bad government will simply evaporate. It's another comforting image. And it helps them avoid thinking about what "their" L.A. would look like the day after.
The day after we leave, who gets the blame in "their" L.A. for racism? The day after we leave, who is responsible for the waste at the MTA and the arrogance and the greed at City Hall? That's why they don't want us to leave. We make it possible for them to avoid seeing an honest image of "their" L.A.
Re "An act of betrayal" (Editorial, Aug. 17):
City Council President Alex Padilla (28) is way too young for this job, no matter what school he graduated from, and making decisions that are infuriating a lot of people. At this point, let me say that the minimum age required to run for this office should be changed immediately. All we do now is sit and wait and see how he matures.
Padilla should apologize to Hal Bernson and give him back his spot in the county agency and tell Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski to settle down. If November 2002 is the date when we vote for secession, no one should block our determination to secede. We are all Americans, and no one owns us.
Johnny Rotella Woodland Hills
Once more the City Council has used the Sluggo approach in dealing with the Valley. Not even the iron fist in the velvet glove, just a plain old club like any other thug. Alex Padilla's appointment of Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski as a Local Agency Formation Commission commissioner is just that.
Hal Bernson, a Valley resident, is out and she's [A Brentwood resident] in. I wonder how many people Padilla will sell out to achieve his political ambitions. I would warn his constituency they could be next if they stand between him and political gain.
L.A. Calabro Northridge
By Rick Orlov Staff Writer
Trying to fend off criticism from San Fernando Valley civic leaders, two City Council members in the middle of a storm of controversy insisted Friday that they would do nothing to block an election on secession in November 2002.
At the same time, the County Counsel's Office issued an opinion saying City Council President Alex Padilla had the power to replace Councilman Hal Bernson on the Local Agency Formation Commission overseeing the cityhood proposal.
Padilla replaced Bernson, generally seen as sympathetic to the cityhood effort, with anti-secession leader Cindy Miscikowski in a sudden shift this week that relegated Bernson to the role of alternate to the panel.
However, both Padilla and Miscikowski said they would not try to block the election. "I have said all along that I favor the people deciding this and the sooner the better," Padilla said. "I have said the city should not do anything to block an election next year."
Miscikowski, acknowledging her opposition to a city breakup, said she also was committed to having an election. "The city really should play no role in this," Miscikowski said. "It is up to LAFCO to decide if and when an election should be held and make sure that all the facts are out there for the public to decide."
Bernson, who supported a breakup of the city nearly 30 years ago, has served on LAFCO for the past 20 years. LAFCO is a nine-member state agency of representatives from across Los Angeles County that studies secession and annexation issues. It is in the process of studying the breakup of Los Angeles with separate cities in the San Fernando Valley and Harbor areas.
Bernson said his removal as the primary city representative on the panel was "a slap in the face to the San Fernando Valley," saying he was providing an independent view of the proposal. He questioned the legality of his removal. Several key Valley leaders joined Bernson this week in objecting to Padilla's replacement of him. Among them were Richard Close of Valley VOTE as well as Bert Boeckmann and Davis Fleming, two of the prime financial backers of the cityhood effort.
Miscikowski said she hoped to meet with them in the near future to assure them she will be independent on the matter.
County Counsel Lloyd Pellman, who provides legal advice to LAFCO, said Padilla had the authority to replace Bernson in midterm. "The presiding officer of the legislative body of the City of Los Angeles has the authority ... to both appoint and to remove the commissioner representing the city," Pellman wrote.
A still-angry Bernson said he will press ahead to determine whether Padilla promised Miscikowski the appointment in return for her support of his election as council president. Bernson said he would decide his next step over the next two weeks while the council is in recess. Even if he remains as an alternate, he said, he will continue to attend LAFCO meetings.
"Normally, the alternate goes only when the regular member isn't there," Bernson said. "But, I'm going to go to every meeting and let my views be known. This is too important for the Valley, for the Harbor and for the city." Councilman Joel Wachs said he would not comment on Padilla's action. "Probably the least said at this point, the better," Wachs said.
Two other Valley-area council members, Dennis Zine and Jack Weiss, said they wanted to get more information on the impact of the change before commenting.
In short order, City Council President Alex Padilla managed to infuriate the leadership of Los Angeles' African-American community and now he's sold out his own constituents in the San Fernando Valley.
Not bad for a young man who's been in a position of significant power for barely a month.
It would be easy to blame it on youth and naivete. But we don't buy it. His actions are outrageous.
A 28-year-old graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology smart enough and bold enough to take on the responsibility of such a high office knows better than to insult whole communities for personal or political advantage.
First, he stripped three African-American council members of key posts on social welfare committees, bringing down the wrath of 300 community leaders who forced him to back down and accommodate their concerns.
Now, he's gone a giant step further by ousting veteran Valley Councilman Hal Bernson from the county agency overseeing the cityhood studies for the Valley, San Pedro and Hollywood. This is a role Bernson has fulfilled for two decades, bringing to the debate a sense of fair play for the communities contemplating secession as well as the rest of Los Angeles.
Fair play is not something Padilla or the people pulling his strings want to bring to City Hall or to the issue of secession. They don't want a fair hearing on the matter, an open public debate, and then an opportunity for the public to vote in 2002. Clearly they must be afraid of what the people might do.
Sadly, for a young man with brains and talent, Padilla has given overwhelming evidence he would rather front for the City Hall power structure and serve his own ambition, whatever the cost to others.
His choice of a replacement for Bernson is proof in itself of his intent to scuttle the process of self-determination for the very community that he grew up in and that provided him with opportunity. Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, of all people, was anointed by Padilla to represent the city of Los Angeles on the Local Agency Formation Commission that will set the terms for a divorce and the date of the election so the people of the entire city can vote on breakup.
Miscikowski is the council's most virulent opponent of secession and a fair deal for all if breakup occurs. She personally enjoys having the Getty Center in her own back yard in Brentwood while thinking nothing of putting a garbage dump in the back yards of Valley residents, with her unyielding support of Sunshine Canyon.
This is a blatant political payoff. Miscikowski threw key support to Padilla so he could win the council presidency. Her husband, Doug Ring, arranged for part of the proposed new Children's Museum to be located in Padilla's district at Hansen Dam. Nice. Real nice.
At City Hall, "friendship" has for too long counted more than loyalty to constituents or service to the community.
Padilla's action goes beyond that. The only reason City Hall has done anything in recent years for the Valley, particularly the Northeast Valley, is because of the threat of secession. Residents of the Northeast Valley have been some of the strongest supporters of considering the issue of secession because their communities have been shortchanged for so long.
By doing his best to take away a club over the head of City Hall, Padilla has betrayed the most fundamental of the commitments he made when he took the oath of public office. He has betrayed his own people. It sure didn't take long.
By Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer
City Council President Alex Padilla dealt a sharp blow to the San Fernando Valley secession movement Wednesday, ousting Councilman Hal Bernson from the county agency overseeing the cityhood study and replacing him with a vocal secession opponent.
Padilla replaced Bernson -- a 20-year veteran on the Local Agency Formation Commission -- with Brentwood Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, one of the most vigorous anti-secession council members. Bernson was named an alternate LAFCO member.
Valley civic leaders denounced the move as a direct hit on secession, either intended to delay a citywide vote past the expected November 2002 election or scuttle secession entirely.
Bernson called the move a "terrible decision" and "insulting" to him and to the Valley. He also is asking for an investigation into whether Padilla violated state law in two different ways by making the move. "The real question is whether this appointment of her is legal -- whether there was a crime committed," Bernson said. "It really challenges the veracity of his presidency. "(Today) I'm going to ask the city attorney and the Ethics Commission to look into whether there has been a crime committed and whether the presidency should be set aside."
Bernson said he believes only the full City Council, not the council president alone, has the authority to remove the city's appointee to LAFCO before his four-year term expires in May 2002. He has asked the County Counsel's Office to look into that issue and for Miscikowski's swearing-in to be postponed until it is resolved.
He also said Padilla told him he promised Miscikowski the LAFCO slot in exchange for her vote for his presidency, which Bernson said is an illegal "quid pro quo." He plans to ask the city attorney and the Ethics Commission to investigate.
Padilla spokesman David Gershwin said the City Attorney's Office advised that his action was legal.
As for the quid pro quo accusation, Gershwin said: "That's absolutely balderdash. Absolutely, positively, 100 percent no way. Councilman Bernson has taken sour grapes to an entirely new level."
Bernson supported Councilwoman Ruth Galanter for council president. Miscikowski supported Padilla after dropping her own bid for the job. After winning, Padilla removed Bernson as chairman of the Planning and Land Use Management Committee.
Padilla, who represents the Northeast Valley, defended his action by saying Miscikowski has the dual perspective of someone who represents part of the Valley as well as an area that would remain in Los Angeles if secession occurs. He said she has expertise to deal with the issue because she has served on the council's secession and budget committees.
"I wouldn't see it as an antisecession move," Padilla said. "Especially because Ms. Miscikowski is known as a consensus builder and being very moderate in her approaches."
Bernson, while not advocating secession, is seen as a friend to the cause and believes the issue should be put to voters. He was also involved in Valley secession efforts in the 1970s.
"What Alex did today was an outrage," said Jeff Brain, president of Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment. "To interfere with the people's ability to make their own decisions about independence -- they're manipulating the process. They're trying to stack the deck against the people to protect their own interest."
Miscikowski disagreed with secessionists' characterization of her as someone who would seek to keep the issue off the ballot. She said she would not block secession from getting on the ballot if as-yet unanswered legal and technical questions are addressed. [Most of her published questions are issued that the elected government of the New Valley City will have to decide after the election. LAFCO and ValleyVote have provided a frame work the will be implemented by the Valleys Elected representatives. See the ValleyVote proposal]
"I am a believer in having the voters decide," Miscikowski said. "Hopefully as many of the questions that the city has asked that just need to be clarified -- whether by legal opinion or some other judgment -- [As in litagation against LAFCO or ValleyVote] should be clarified as we put something forward on the ballot, whether it's November 2002 or some other time," she added.
"Let's have a clean, clear issue presented to the voters, without a lot of grayness or questions that would have to be resolved afterwards."
Despite Miscikowski's public statements, secession supporters doubt she will be neutral or that she will vote in favor of placing the issue on the ballot. They say she has been one of the most-quoted and articulate opponents of secession.
"By putting an opponent on the commission, it makes it easier for the process to be derailed or stopped," said Valley VOTE chairman Richard Close, who is also an alternate LAFCO member, although he would abstain from voting on Valley secession issues. "I still believe it will be on the ballot next year, but it just makes our work much more difficult."
LAFCO, which has nine members and six alternates, will decide by August 2002 whether to place the secession issue question on the ballot in November 2002. The Los Angeles City Council has two appointees on LAFCO -- one member and one alternate. Other members are chosen by the Board of Supervisors and by the other cities in the county.
To Valley secessionists, the council appointment is a key one because they believe there are already two or three LAFCO members leaning against allowing secession on the ballot.
Padilla also reappointed Miscikowski to her position as chairwoman of the council's secession committee. He also appointed West Valley Councilman Dennis Zine as vice chairman and council members Janice Hahn, Nate Holden and Ed Reyes as members.
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