Valley Secession Petition Leaders Now Confident

SHERMAN OAKS —  Energized by a poll that shows strong public support for breaking up the city, leaders of a San Fernando Valley group said Tuesday they are confident they can collect signatures quickly enough to trigger the next step toward Valley secession.

The group, Valley VOTE, earlier had asked for legislation extending a 90-day deadline on collecting 135,000 petition signatures seeking a study of secession.

But Tuesday, Valley Vote leaders said they are confident they have the resources, volunteers and public support to meet the deadline.

“We are very confident of getting our signatures in 90 days,” Valley VOTE President Jeff Brain said.

Group leaders said they fear going back to the legislature would mean more delays.

Brain said the petition drive will be timed to coincide with the June primary to allow petition circulators to solicit signatures near polling places. Brain said 3,000 volunteers are ready to go but he remained silent on how much money has been raised for the cause.

The survey of 1,205 Valley voters was commissioned by Studio City attorney David Fleming and auto dealership owner Herbert Boeckmann, both of whom are prominent appointees of Mayor Richard Riordan, a vocal opponent of secession.

Fleming is a member of the city Fire Commission and Boeckmann is a longtime member of the Police Commission.

The survey--conducted by veteran pollster Arnold Steinberg and released Monday--found that secession has strong support across demographic, gender and party lines. Voters who support secession were split on the reason, with some saying they wanted more autonomy, others saying they wanted local tax dollars to remain in the Valley, and still others saying a Valley city would provide more efficient government services.

One day after the release of the survey, Valley VOTE leaders were beaming during a news conference to announce their plans to begin the petition drive.

“Critics have often said there is little support for cityhood in the Valley,” Brain said. “That is wrong.”

Still, the road ahead is difficult. If the group collects the 135,000 signatures--representing 25% of Valley voters--the Local Agency Formation Commission would be required to study whether a Valley city can maintain itself without financially hurting the rest of the city.

If the study shows a Valley city is feasible, voters citywide may be asked to decide on Valley secession as soon as 2000. But the Valley can only break away if it has the support of a majority of voters in the Valley, and of the entire city.

According to state law, residents in Los Angeles County have 90 days to collect the necessary signatures to request a change of city boundaries. Leaders of Valley VOTE have assumed their petition to study secession would also be limited to the 90-day period.

At the request of Valley VOTE, the Legislative Counsel issued an opinion saying the 90-day limit does not apply to a secession study. Instead, the group could take up to 180 days, the counsel said.

Despite the opinion, Brain and Valley VOTE Chairman Richard Close said they believe support for secession is so strong that they can get the necessary signatures in 90 days.

“The poll found that 80.2% of Valley registered voters are willing to sign the petitions required to get the issue of cityhood to LAFCO,” Brain said. “Valley VOTE therefore, at this time, believes we can successfully undertake the required petition drive in the 90-day period.”

Experts say collecting 135,000 signatures in 90 days will not be easy. Rick Taylor, a veteran political strategist who managed Mayor Riordan’s petition drive to put a charter-reform measure on the ballot last year, said Valley VOTE’s success will depend on how much money it can raise.

“It takes resources, financial resources,” he said.

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Taylor estimates the group may need to raise up to $450,000 to fund the drive, including the cost of lawyers and professional signature-gatherers. Brain and Close have repeatedly said they plan to collect the signatures using mostly volunteers. But Taylor said professional signature-gathering firms are much more dependable.

“If you use volunteers, you lose the control factor. You need to make sure the signatures are valid,” he said. “If they intend to get it done, they need to hire professionals.”

In a related matter, Councilman Nate Holden, an avid opponent of secession, on Tuesday called for Fleming and Boeckmann to resign their commission posts.

By funding the survey, Holden said Fleming and Boeckmann are “participating in the breakup of the city of Los Angeles” while representing the city on their respective commissions. But Fleming rejected Holden’s accusation, saying he and Boeckmann funded the $50,000 survey simply “to find out what the voters are thinking.”

Fleming said he is opposed to secession and instead supports continuing efforts to overhaul the city’s 72-year-old governing charter.

“Rather than destroying the city, let’s fix it,” Fleming said.

Riordan spokeswoman Noelia Rodriguez said the mayor will not ask Fleming and Boeckmann to resign. “The mayor is not going to criticize them for spending their money on their own time,” she said.