Secession of Valley, Hollywood would create rather than solve problems

By Jack Weiss In November, Angelenos will cast
a historic vote deciding whether to split Los Angeles along its
seams by creating new cities out of the San Fernando Valley and
Hollywood. I oppose breaking up the city for one simple reason
““ Los Angeles is stronger together than the new cities would
be on their own. While I respect and understand the frustrations
making the idea of secession appealing to some residents, I believe
in all areas of Los Angeles, from Northridge to San Pedro, from
Westwood to Sunland to Tujunga, our communities are stronger
together and can be better served by a united city. No matter where
people live in Los Angeles, they probably travel to other parts of
the city to work and to play. The Lakers and the Dodgers
don’t belong to just parts of Los Angeles. Their victories
and frustrations are shared by all of us, on both sides of
Mulholland Drive. Likewise the Getty Center, the Hollywood Bowl and
UCLA are visited by people from all over the city. Sharing these
institutions makes all of our lives better. With our shared joys,
city residents also share challenges. In my district, which spans
the hillsides to include portions of the Westside and the Valley, I
see the same concerns facing everyone. People are concerned about
improving public safety, reducing traffic and protecting the
environment. Despite these issues, they believe Los Angeles is a
good place to live. My staff and I work very hard on both sides of
the hill to respond to concerns affecting the quality of life in
our neighborhoods. When there is a problem, I am able to respond
directly. For example, a hate crime assault against several young
people recently occurred in Beverlywood, and as the councilmember
for the area I was able to secure additional police patrols for the
neighborhood. If parts of the city secede, essential services such
as police and fire would be provided to new cities through
contracts with Los Angeles. Residents would become customers of the
same departments and services rather than constituents with the
ability to influence the city via the political process. Many
question how this arrangement could possibly be better than keeping
the city together. Currently each city councilmember represents
about 250,000 people. Some say this is too many people for one
district. If the concern is the size of council districts, we could
address it by increasing the size of the city council to create
smaller districts without breaking up Los Angeles. A fractured Los
Angeles will create new layers of bureaucracy in new cities,
doubling the number of politicians and adding new costs. For
example, a new city in the San Fernando Valley would be required to
pay tens of millions of dollars in “valimony” to Los
Angeles every year. These payments would leave less revenue
available for services in the new city. The new cities would either
have to raise taxes or cut services to balance their budgets. How
will the new cities choose between streets, parks or traffic
officers? Additionally, Los Angeles has the stability of long-held
ordinances such as rent control and anti-discrimination. In new
cities, the laws of the Los Angeles would apply for a transitional
period, but then the new city governments would have to pass all
their own laws. Will rent control and civil rights be a priority
for the new cities? Voters may not want to risk these hard fought
protections for the hope of a smaller municipality. As much as
secessionists would like to believe breaking apart from Los Angeles
would lead to smaller government and a small town feeling, the new
city in the Valley would be a far cry from the nostalgic Mayberry.
The new city would be the sixth largest city in the nation, and as
a major metropolis, would still face big-city problems. Even if
Hollywood and the Valley form their own cities, it wouldn’t
make traffic disappear at the city limits, as residents of West
Hollywood and Beverly Hills could attest. Recognizing that our city
is made up of interconnected neighborhoods, we are better able to
confront problems such as traffic. Instead of breaking up the city,
we should focus on improving the delivery of services to make Los
Angeles a safer and better place to live. I am committed to doing
this, and I look forward to working with the UCLA community to find
solutions to the problems we all face together.

Councilmember Weiss represents the Fifth District of Los
Angeles, which includes UCLA.