City Puts Limits on Funding Breakup Studies, Angering Secession Backers

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday imposed restrictions on funding cityhood studies for the San Fernando Valley and Harbor areas, sparking calls by secessionist leaders to reject the city’s money.

Richard Close, chairman of Valley VOTE, said his secession group will ask the Local Agency Formation Commission to reject the city’s $265,000 as long as the conditions stand. The city would contribute 10% of the study’s cost.

“It is clear the city is imposing these conditions to set it up so it can sue LAFCO and block the study,” Close said. “These conditions are simply a way for the city to interfere with the study.”

Andrew Mardesich, director of the Harbor Study Foundation, said he shares Close’s concerns.

“It’s a Trojan horse,” Mardesich said.

Secession leaders suggested LAFCO should consider alternatives, such as raising the money privately or asking for more funding from the state and county to cover the city’s share.

The conditions at the center of the dispute, approved in a 9-6 vote, limit use of city funds to review and analyze data on whether the breakup of Los Angeles would financially harm the new or old cities. The restrictions prohibit spending money on development of specific plans for breaking up the city.

Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, whose district extends from West Los Angeles to the Valley, said any specific cityhood proposal should be drafted by those who petitioned for the breakup, and not by the agency that is charged with objectively studying the financial issues involved.

“Should public money from the area of West Los Angeles be used to prepare a separation of the Harbor from the city, a separation of the Valley from the city?” Miscikowski asked. “I think not.”

Others said that even if the conditional language had been dropped, state law would have prohibited LAFCO from spending funds on developing specific cityhood plans.

LAFCO Executive Director Larry Calemine said the council’s action could hamstring his agency’s ability to thoroughly analyze whether a breakup would be revenue-neutral for the old and new cities.

The six council members who opposed the restrictions were Hal Bernson, Laura Chick, Mike Feuer, Alex Padilla, Rudy Svorinich Jr. and Joel Wachs.

Bernson warned those who approved the restrictions that their action would fuel the fires of secession by showing undecided Valley residents that the city was obstructing even a study of the issue.

“It says you are not going to cooperate, that you are going to do everything you can to stop the study from going forward,” Bernson said.

The remainder of the $2.7-million study cost is being financed by the state and county.

Several council members said the dispute was overblown, because state law would eventually dictate what LAFCO can or can’t do. The city attorney’s office said state law prohibits the use of city funds to develop specific plans for breaking up the city.

Nevertheless, the council spent more than an hour in heated debate on the matter, with many non-Valley council members focusing on their reluctance to encourage the city’s breakup.