Humor in Valley Secession Story

* Of all the items in Wednesday’s [April 24] paper, the one I found

most amusing was the potential secession of the San Fernando Valley from Los Angeles. Why go for such a wimpy thing when the Valley could secede from the entire Union?! We could elect our own president (probably a doctor in jeans and cowboy boots) and block Clinton speeches from the airwaves. Only if L.A. is really nice would we allow them to fly over our country. We could even have an embassy near the library building.

JAMES DITCHIK, MD

Encino

*

If [Nate] Holden thinks he can bully the Valley he is wrong. We can take care of ourselves. Mayor [Richard] Riordan realizes this and he also realizes, Mr. Holden, [that] Los Angeles city cannot take care of itself without the money the Valley contributes each year.

It is time the Valley has several deputy mayors [and] a city hall that can take care of the Valley business. We also need council people who just take care of Valley interests 100% of the time, not councilmen who represent the Valley and parts of Los Angeles. They forget the Valley most of the time; they even forget how to get here, as we never see them.

Perhaps the mayor will see to it that our streets are repaired, blighted areas cleaned up, graffiti removed and [that there are] enough police to stop the gangs from killing each other and everyone else. Otherwise, we should become our own city where the elected officials will take care of us and we will receive all the services we have been paying for but not receiving.

The Valley is no longer to be regarded as a stepchild.

GILBERT SMITH

Encino