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The Next meeting of the Valley VOTE Executive Board is Monday, July 19, 1999 The Executive Session of the meeting will be from 6:45pm to 7:25prn The Regular meeting is open to the public and will begin at 7:30pm Topics for the agenda will be posted here before the meeting The meeting will be held at Galpin Motors, 15555 Roscoe Blvd in the 2nd floor conference room in the Explorer Show room Building
7-14-99 ValleyVote's Comments on consultant selection and notice request were filed with LAFCO at the 7-14-99 meeting
Update LA City provided a full set of print copies of the various attachments to they response. It appears that a lack of communication occurred as to what we wanted as electronic format. The full document as a single item is not available but the word processing files and spread sheets as probably available. A cooperative LA City person is looking for the files. More to follow in days to come.
We Thought you would find the story in Friday's (7-16-99) Daily News interesting.For the source see http://dailynews.com/news/july99/0716/money.html
By Rick Orlov, Staff Writer
Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan on Thursday proposed using a one-time $10.8 million windfall from the state to develop a second police bureau in the San Fernando Valley, build a sixth Valley police station and make improvements in the Van Nuys Civic Center area. "This is a golden opportunity to make the greatest use of taxpayer dollars," Riordan said through a spokeswoman. "The city has tremendous infrastructure needs, including the replacement and upgrading of critical public safety facilities."
Los Angeles is scheduled to receive the money as part of a $130 million property tax surplus to the state, which Gov. Gray Davis has proposed returning to cities and counties.
Councilman Alex Padilla is expected to present Riordan's proposal at a special meeting today of the City Council's Public Safety Committee.
Riordan spokeswoman Noelia Rodriguez said the mayor's proposal is part of an effort to fund programs that had been included in the police-fire bond measure rejected by voters this year. "The mayor was working with the police and fire chiefs to develop this program and thinks this is the best way to make use of this money," Rodriguez said. "We are talking about one-time projects with one-time money."
Riordan wants to combine the state surplus money with $6.4 million in savings that have been found in the Proposition 2 police facilities bond fund approved by voters in 1989, she said. Riordan proposed the bulk of the money -- $10 million -- be set aside to install modular buildings on a Northeast Valley site for a new police station and bureau to ease overcrowding in other stations.
The new station would be the sixth in the Valley, and would be in addition to -- not a replacement for -- the LAPD's Foothill station in Pacoima.
The Valley's five LAPD stations are administratively grouped under the existing LAPD Valley Bureau. The new bureau would be the Valley's second, and officials envision it would encompass three police stations and about half of the Valley. The remaining stations and territory would be assigned to the existing Valley Bureau.
Riordan also proposed setting aside $1.5 million to make street and sidewalk repairs in the Van Nuys Civic Center as part of the overall plan to improve the area.
Other projects suggested by the mayor include $1.6 million to make police station improvements to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, $3.3 million for diesel emission mitigation at fire stations, $200,000 to upgrade trailers at the Harbor and Pacific police stations and $500,000 to the General Services Department for other work.
Councilwoman Laura Chick, who chairs the council's Public Safety Committee, said she supports the mayor's proposal. "Anything we can do to fund our vital police services is important to the entire city," Chick said. "We most definitely have to find a way to see if we can build the resources we needed in the bond issue, but that voters didn't approve." At the same time, Chick said she planned to pursue efforts to find other city buildings and facilities that could be available for police and fire facilities.
COPYRIGHT © 1999 Daily News Los Angeles
We Thought you would find the story in Friday's (7-16-99) Daily News interesting.For the source see http://dailynews.com/news/july99/0716/habor.html
By Michael Coit, Staff Writer
The San Pedro-Wilmington secession movement is poised to join the Valley cityhood study, but its leadership has become bitterly divided.
The factions have clashed in court and at Local Agency Formation Commission meetings with one side seeking to ban the other from officially representing the movement.
LAFCO urged the factions to settle their differences or get a judge to decide who represents the effort. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled last month that petitioners don't care who turns in the signatures to trigger the cityhood study, and LAFCO declined to choose one side over the other again Wednesday.
"You people have a cat fight down there and it's too bad you can't solve that rather than come before us every two weeks," said Commissioner Henri Pellissier.
The fight for control of the San Pedro-Wilmington effort flared in June after the petitions for cityhood were turned over to LAFCO. The dispute shouldn't affect the cityhood study, officials said.
"LAFCO will do the study that it's obligated to do irrespective of those in the community who are at odds with one another," said Larry Calemine, the agency's executive director. "We don't take sides."
The source of the dispute is similar to what broke apart the leadership of Valley VOTE before that group began its successful petition drive.
Ardent secessionists who wanted to sell the need for a San Fernando Valley city during the petition effort formed a separate, much smaller group because Valley VOTE downplayed secession in its mission for a study of the financial viability of cityhood.
"We had this falling out. Those things do happen in politics," said Harry Coleman, the North Hills activist who joined with his wife, Bobbi Fiedler, to form the San Fernando Valley Secession Board.
The fight for control of the San Pedro-Wilmington effort centers on a similar difference in philosophy.
HarborVote leaders contend that Andrew Mardesich, one of three chief petitioners, took over the petition effort and wants to scuttle secession in favor of compromise.
"We are secessionists and proud of it. Our message here is who do you want planning your future," said Xavier Hermosillo.
Mardesich said that approach won't get the public support needed for cityhood to succeed. "We want to move forward on a study and then maybe we can leverage improved municipal services."
After the petitions were turned over in June, Mardesich and others represented the effort before LAFCO. They formed the Harbor Study Foundation to raise money for study-related costs.
But Hermosillo and the remaining HarborVote leaders urged LAFCO to halt the signature verification process, contending that Mardesich left HarborVote and took the petitions with him.
LAFCO declined the request and advised the group to seek relief in court.
Hermosillo said HarborVote would return to court again to seek an order barring Mardesich and the foundation from representing the cityhood effort.
On Wednesday, Mardesich and Dennis Dyer told LAFCO the volunteers who circulated petitions remain committed to the effort and don't care about the leadership battle.
Hermosillo and Bill Silverthorn told LAFCO that HarborVote formally fired^ @Mardesich as a chief petitioner and that the Harbor Study Foundation does not represent the effort.
"The problem is what LAFCO is doing by its inaction is causing strife," Silverthorn said.
To include San Pedro-Wilmington in the cityhood study initiated by Valley VOTE, proponents need 13,470 signatures from registered voters. Of the 16,964 signatures turned in, 13,450 were certified by the county Registrar-Recorder's Office.
Nearly 300 more signatures have been turned in during a period allowed to collect more and LAFCO officials have said that should be plenty to qualify for the study.
COPYRIGHT © 1999 Daily News Los Angeles
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