The Region - News from March 27, 1986

The Local Agency Formation Commission decided that Marina del Rey residents should not be allowed to vote on incorporating as an independent city. The commission was forced to consider a cityhood election after incorporation backers gathered 1,468 Marina residents’ signatures in favor of a referendum. Cityhood advocates said they thought that a local government could fight soaring rents, crime and traffic problems better than the county Board of Supervisors. But commissioners said they saw no justification for carving a city out of publicly owned territory occupied by tenants. The commission’s denial apparently leaves cityhood backers with no recourse but the courts.