Breaking Up?

By Peijean Tsai
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
[email protected]

Jason Liu/Daily Bruin

If the Valley secedes, there could be big changes for both the
proposed city as well as for remaining areas of Los Angeles,
including UCLA.

In November Los Angeles residents will decide whether or not to
split up the nation’s second largest city.

Advocates for Valley secession have placed the proposal on the
November ballot in hopes of achieving their own community with
tighter control of city services and local government, but this
could cost the new and remaining cities a lot.

Though UCLA is not located in the San Fernando Valley, all Los
Angeles residents, including those around UCLA will be hit with
higher utility costs, said Julie Wong, a spokeswoman for Mayor
James Hahn.

If the Valley secedes, an additional franchise fee by the
Department of Water and Power would be incurred by the
newly-separated city. Since DWP could not legally charge Valley
residents different rates than those for non-Valley residents, the
extra franchise fee costs would be divided among all Los Angeles
and Valley residents, raising utility costs for all, said Wong.

Whether the new Valley city’s council decides to keep rent
control in some areas of the Valley could also affect students who
live in off-campus residences. The new council could decide not to
enact rent control, resulting in high rents for students living in
the Valley, said state Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica).

“With very few exceptions, I don’t see any of the
people who have expressed an interest in running for the new city
council in the Valley supporting rent control,” said
Kuehl.

Valley secession could also result in a major decrease in tax
revenue for the rest of Los Angeles, said Wong.

Currently the Valley collects more tax revenue than the rest of
Los Angeles, so remaining areas will lose a lot of funding for city
services, said Wong.

This loss could indirectly affect UCLA because the campus relies
on city services regularly, said J. Eugene Grigsby, the director of
the Advanced Policy Institute of UCLA and a professor of urban
planning.

For example, while UCLA has its own police department, UCLA
often uses the services of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Services in the Valley, however, could improve if the Valley
were to secede and form its own local government, said Shirley
Svorny, a professor of economics at Cal State Northridge and Valley
resident.

Currently services in the Valley are inefficient because Los
Angeles has become too large, she said.

A separate, smaller Valley city would insure a more efficient
economy where residents are better served, she said.

Secession would also benefit Valley residents by allowing for
closer government representation which would better represent the
needs of the Valley, Svorny said.

“If the people of an area want to organize their own
government and see advantages in doing it, they should be able to.
We have enough civic involvement (in the Valley) that we could run
our own government,” she said.

While possibly benefitting from secession, Valley residents
would have to fund the necessary alimony payments required by state
law, which could be costly, said Wong.

According to state law, secession must be “revenue
neutral.” Secession could not financially hurt the remaining
Los Angeles, or else the new city would need to pay alimony.

The amount of the alimony would be $128 million a year for the
new Valley city over twenty years, according to the proposal by the
Valley Commission. An independent consultant hired by the city,
however, calculated that alimony could be as high as $288 million a
year, said Wong.

Funding alimony might require higher sales tax for those in the
Valley, said Kuehl.

A decline in city services may also occur to balance higher
fees, leaving Valley residents with fewer library services, public
park access and city-wide after school programs, said Wong.

Valley residents will therefore end up having poorer services
and higher fees, said Grigsby.

If Los Angeles were to break into smaller communities, the
Valley should not be the area to secede, believes Tim Young, a
fourth-year communications student and a Valley resident.

“The Valley is a pretty well-off area and is
self-sufficient,” said Young.

Less affluent areas might be more deserving of the benefits of
tighter government control, he believes.

While secession has its positive side, voters will have to
decide whether increased fees and costs for both Valley and
non-Valley residents is worth the extra benefits.

For Grigsby, the idea of better government is not enough to
convince him that secession is a good idea.

“If you don’t like the government servicing you, you
vote the officials out of office. You don’t go create your
own city,” said Grigsby.