Legislature OKs Extra Time for Valley VOTE

With only one dissenting vote, the California Legislature on Monday granted San Fernando Valley activists three more months to gather signatures on petitions that could lead to a vote on Valley secession from Los Angeles, sharply boosting the odds that the issue will someday be on the ballot.

If Gov. Pete Wilson signs the measure--and his staff has said he favors it--the extra time virtually assures that Valley independence will undergo serious consideration for the first time since the vast area was annexed to Los Angeles in 1915.

Leaders of Valley VOTE, the group of Valley activists leading the petition campaign, said the three-month reprieve would provide all the time needed to collect the 135,000 signatures required to prompt a state-sanctioned secession study, the first step leading to a possible ballot initiative.

The petition drive had collected 116,900 signatures as of last week. The current petition deadline is Thursday.

“If the governor signs it, this almost guarantees we’ll be able to collect the signatures for the study,” said Valley VOTE President Jeff Brain. “This will keep pressure on for cleaning up Los Angeles government, even if the Valley never goes forward with secession.”

The state Assembly approved the extension Monday by a 67-1 vote, without debate. Assemblyman Roderick Wright (D-Los Angeles) cast the dissenting vote.

“I am adamantly against the Valley seceding from L.A. It’s better to keep L.A. whole,” said Wright, who represents South-Central Los Angeles.

He said the city provided the government facilities and services that made the Valley an attractive place to live.

“Now they perceive themselves as affluent and on their own. It’s unfair to those of us in the smaller cities” to allow the Valley to break away after such a substantial investment, Wright said.

The Senate unanimously approved the extension on Wednesday.

“The city has been placed on notice that it must become more attentive to the needs and wishes of the San Fernando Valley, or the San Fernando Valley will satisfy its own needs as a separate city,” said state Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Northridge), co-sponsor of a 1997 bill making the petition drive possible.

“The ultimate check on an abusive or dysfunctional government is the right of the people to walk away from it,” he said.

The Assembly vote caps the bill’s rocket ride through the Legislature. Assemblyman Robert Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) introduced the measure two weeks ago as an emergency bill, acknowledging it was a longshot. The bill required a two-thirds vote in both the Assembly and the Senate, and had to be approved before lawmakers adjourn on Monday.

Hertzberg said the bill clarifies a legal dispute over whether Valley VOTE had 90 or 180 days to complete its petition drive. With the dispute undecided, leaders of Valley VOTE had decided to run their campaign under the assumption they had 90 days, just to be safe.

“This is a situation where there was a problem in the law, and representative government worked at its best,” Hertzberg said Monday. “We are just trying to make this process fair.”

Hertzberg said the legislation could be on the governor’s desk as early as today.

Still, Valley VOTE will continue its feverish push for signatures under the assumption the Thursday deadline stands, in case the governor rejects the extension, said Richard Close, the group’s chairman.

“Until he signs it, you never know what’s going to happen,” Close said.

The governor put Valley VOTE leaders on edge Friday when he vetoed a $340,000 state expenditure for the secession study, saying it should be funded locally.

If the signature drive is successful, the Local Agency Formation Commission must study the feasibility of creating an independent Valley city and assess the financial consequences it would have on the city of Los Angeles. LAFCO then would have the option of putting the issues on the ballot for a citywide vote--which could happen as early as 2000.

Hertzberg said the measure received its biggest boost when it was backed by Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), a staunch opponent of Valley secession.

Although still opposed to the creation of an independent Valley city, Polanco has said he voted for the time extension to make amends to Valley VOTE. The group’s signature-gatherers should not have been barred from an air show at the city-owned Van Nuys Airport in July, he said, so it was only fair to give them more time to complete their work.

Valley VOTE leaders estimated they would have netted 20,000 to 40,000 signatures at the show, which attracted 250,000 spectators. Last week, Valley VOTE filed a lawsuit against the city in U.S. District Court, seeking damages and an injunction to stop any future city intervention.

At the very least, the Legislature’s vote to keep Valley VOTE’s petition drive alive will intensify pressure to reform the city charter, an effort backed by Mayor Richard Riordan as an alternative to secession, said David Fleming, a close Riordan ally. Currently, two commissions are studying possible reforms.

“It’s a good situation,” said Fleming, a Los Angeles police commissioner who is also a major financial backer of Valley VOTE. “The pressure to study the whole issue of Valley cityhood drives meaningful charter reforms.”

The secession study also would give Los Angeles taxpayers their first real look at the city’s finances, and reveal the inefficiencies and government waste that may be hidden behind layers of bureaucracy, Fleming said.

* CHARTER POLL: Voters favor expanding the City Council to 35 members. B1