Secession From L.A. Is Threatened By MICHELLE DeARMOND .c The Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Faced with the threat of losing up to 60 percent of the city's population to secession, lawmakers are hoping to mollify disaffected suburban residents with the promise of more power. A proposal to reform Los Angeles' 74-year-old city charter would create neighborhood councils with local control; decentralize decisions on planning and zoning; and give voters the option to increase the City Council's size. But it may not be enough to appease residents of the San Fernando Valley, who believe their neighborhoods have become overshadowed by Los Angeles, one of the nation's largest cities at 467 square miles. ``L.A. is just too big,'' said Kathy Guerra, who works at a gardening shop in Sherman Oaks, one of the neighborhoods considering leaving. This week, Sherman Oaks and other parts of the Valley took a crucial step toward secession that could put the issue on the ballot in 2002. Similar movements are afoot in communities that make up the majority of the city's 3.6 million population. Secession proponents say Los Angeles would be better off with smaller government. But opponents fear such a move would tangle bureaucracy, hurt the poor and minorities by dividing voting blocs in a city proud of its diversity and diminish Los Angeles' clout. If the three largest communities seceded, Los Angeles would remain racially and economically mixed. Within its borders would be the downtown skyline recognizable in such TV shows as ``L.A. Law,'' the tourist attractions of Hollywood, the poor black and Hispanic neighborhoods of South Central and Watts, and largely Hispanic East Los Angeles. Mayor Richard Riordan has warned that secession would reduce the kind of pull that enabled Los Angeles to secure $10 billion in aid after the 1994 earthquake. He also said the move would ``dilute a level of Los Angeles' diversity, which is what has made us a great city.'' A vote in June to reform the city's charter could stall the threatened flight from the city. For two years, elected and appointed commissions hammered out a proposal on how best to revise a Progressive-era document written for a predominantly white, relatively small city into one that can meet the needs of today. ``You realize people at least saw the vision that if we don't do something we're going to collapse,'' said H. Eric Schockman, a professor of political science at the University of Southern California and a policy director for one of the commissions. Analysts say both the charter reform and secession movements speak to a broader trend: decentralizing and restructuring government. Similar reform has been tried in other U.S. cities like Portland, Ore. Secession has long been an issue in New York's Staten Island. In Los Angeles, officials involved in the reform see the new charter as a rare -- perhaps last -- chance to keep the city together. ``There is enough in the charter that says: `We do hear you and Los Angeles is not too big to govern; you do not have to break it up,''' Schockman said. Still, some secessionists say the proposed new constitution doesn't adequately address their demands. For instance, advocates complain that all the city's commuter rail lines are outside the Valley and their libraries are neglected. ``Los Angeles ... is coming to terms with the fact that it is too large and better off divided into two smaller more manageable units,'' said Jeff Brain, president of Valley VOTE, a nonprofit organization that received approval this week for a study on the cost and impact of Valley secession. The step -- one of the last before a vote on seceding -- is required by a 1996 state law that allows voters to decide without city council approval if they want to separate from the city. A vote can only occur if the study determines secession would not economically hurt either city. Valley VOTE is the most successful and organized cityhood movement in Los Angeles. As a separate city, its residents would number 1.2 million.
