Push for Secession Meets a Shove of Revolt

HOLLYWOOD KNOLLS —  It was a revolt against a rebellion and it worked. If the San Fernando Valley secedes from Los Angeles, this hillside neighborhood just east of Universal City will stay behind in the original city.

Valley VOTE, the leading Valley secessionist group, announced Wednesday that Hollywood Knolls would be left out of the proposed new city at the request of its residents, the first neighborhood to opt out.

While a recent poll concluded a majority of San Fernando Valley residents would vote to form their own city, the Hollywood Hills homeowners’ group found a clear majority of Hollywood Knolls residents want to stay with L.A.

A straw vote, taken at a neighborhood meeting last month, was such a blowout in favor of sticking with Los Angeles that “we didn’t even bother to count,” board member Robert Knox said.

“We voted sharply to remain in Los Angeles and that’s what we’re going to get,” said Dan Riffe, president of the Hollywood Knolls Homeowners Club.

“They showed us a clear consensus of residents there did not want to join in the movement,” said Jeff Brain, Valley VOTE president.

The Cahuenga Pass Homeowners Assn., across the Hollywood Freeway from Hollywood Knolls, also has requested that Valley VOTE leave it out of any secession plans, but the secessionist group has not acted on the request, waiting for the residents themselves to declare their preference.

“We asked them to do what Hollywood Knolls did, which was to poll the residents and determine what the majority wanted to do,” Brain said. “They haven’t done that yet.”

Hollywood Knolls residents had various reasons for voting against secession.

“I’ve lived in Los Angeles 29 years. It means something to me,” said Andy Corrigan, 49, who runs a computer software company from an office in her hillside home.

“Secession is urban flight at its worst,” Corrigan said. “Leaving would erode the tax base and allow depressed areas in the city to continue to suffer. By staying, we all can do our share to make the city a better place.”

“It’s always been L.A. here and that’s how it should probably stay,” said Lee Owens, 70, a recent retiree. “I have a Hollywood address and they’d be splitting that. Why? We’ve all been L.A. and grown together.”

“The Valley people want more responsive government, and that’s not a bad idea, but who knows if it would be true if we split,” said one resident who asked not to be identified. “But L.A. is where I tell people I’m from. Let’s not confuse things even more than they already are.”

When Valley VOTE proposed adding the neighborhood to its proposed Valley city, it did so by splitting the area in half, along Barham Boulevard from the Los Angeles River south to Cahuenga Boulevard, leaving the area around the Lake Hollywood reservoir on the other side of Barham Boulevard outside the proposed new city. That raised fears that new city limits would split the neighborhood.

“Being divided was a huge issue,” Riffe said. “We’d prefer being whole in the Valley than being split between valley and city. But we’re going to stay whole and stay in the city. That’s how we want it.”

Not everyone is cheering the decision to stay.

“I like the Valley, I like my association with it,” said Fred Meyer, 77, who has lived in Hollywood Knolls 44 years. “I would be inclined to vote for secession. But I don’t know enough about the issues. Many of us don’t. Maybe if I knew more about the specifics, like how it would affect taxes, I’d be less ambivalent.

“I have more nostalgia for Brooklyn than for Los Angeles.”