Valley Promotion Funding Voted Down

The City Council was willing to agree Tuesday that the Valley does not get its fair share of attention from the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau. But it wouldn’t back its convictions with promises of cold cash.

Council member Joel Wachs had proposed a measure that would have forced the bureau come up with “an action plan that will guarantee funding increased promotion of tourism in the San Fernando Valley.”

But Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg objected to the term “guarantee funding” asking instead that the motion deal only with increasing attention to the Valley and leave money out of it.

Wachs argued that without specific guidelines on funding, the measure had no teeth.

“The goal is promotion of tourism in the Valley,” Wachs told the council. “It’s pretty hard to do that without money.”

But Goldberg won the day. Her amendment that softened the measure won a majority on the council.

“This is just another example every time something comes up for the Valley, we get kicked in the butt,” commented northwest Valley Councilman Hal Bernson. “We’re trying to do something to create a little more tourism for the Valley. What’s wrong with that?”