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Organizers Seek to Define Goals, Procedures : Valley Coalition Struggles With Identity Crisis

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Times Staff Writer

Homeowner leaders hoping to form a coalition to take consensus stands on San Fernando Valley problems will meet today to grapple with their first one: themselves.

Organizers of a fledgling group called the Coalition of Valley Communities have not reached a consensus on who will be eligible to join their group, what issues they will tackle or what they’ll do once they decide to take up an issue.

There is also disagreement over who suggested the coalition, when it was proposed and what led to its creation.

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Nonetheless, coalition founders are optimistic that they have the potential to unite as a powerful voice against what they view as further overdevelopment of the Valley.

“My hope is that it will have a significant impact on the political structure and the infrastructural people as well,” said Jerry Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino and a coalition steering committee member.

Said another organizer, Gordon Murley, president of the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization: “If we can improve our communication with politicians, the chances are things will go better for both sides, and the city will improve. . . . Somehow we have to get civil servants to take more pride in what they do.”

About 50 Valley homeowner groups have been invited by coalition organizers to today’s closed-door breakfast session in Van Nuys. The coalition’s first meeting a month ago drew representatives from 40 groups.

But organizers are divided as to what groups should qualify to become voting members of the coalition.

Some favor long-established homeowner associations but exclusion of single-issue groups--tiny neighborhood organizations fighting a local issue or special-interest groups opposed to such matters as airport noise. Others feel all established groups should be able to join.

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Question of Focus

Coalition organizers also have differing views on the scope of issues the group will tackle--and how positions will be hammered out.

Several see the group starting with broad-based, less-controversial matters that homeowners are likely to embrace: slower growth, better landscaped public rights of way and a restructuring of Los Angeles’ city planning procedure.

Others favor jumping into more controversial issues such as light-rail or topics with a narrower community focus such as neighborhood construction disputes.

Coalition organizers said they must also decide what will form a consensus of the group and what procedures they will use in evaluating issues.

Kurt Hunter, president of the North Hollywood Residents Assn., favors majority and minority reports on controversial matters. “That’s the only way I think there will be a commonality on a lot of issues,” he said Friday.

Silver said he would also approve of minority statements when the coalition’s majority “steps on some people’s toes” in reaching a consensus on an issue.

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Organizer Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn., disagrees: “This isn’t going to be a think tank. It will be an action-oriented group. . . . The government publishes enough reports.”

Added organizer Richard Smith, president of the Encino Property Owners Assn.: “I don’t see majority and minority reports. If you get into that kind of squabbling with each other, the coalition will die off before you know it.”

Can coalition organizers reach common ground that will give them the clout they hope for?

“That’s the question we’re all thinking about,” said Kathy Lewis, a steering committee member and past president of the Encino Property Owners Assn.

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