Secession Effort Gains Ground in Yearlong Drive

In government realms, 1998 for the San Fernando Valley was like spring on a farm: Seeds were planted, things took root, but the fruit has yet to ripen.

The most obvious example is the drive for Valley cityhood, a troubled effort that suddenly showed promise late in the year.

Members of Valley VOTE, a group spearheading the drive for San Fernando Valley cityhood, collected more than 200,000 signatures on petitions requesting a study of the issue, although they allowed that the battle was far from won.

The study is a final step before Los Angeles County can place the issue before voters--which could take place as soon as 2000.

The story of how Valley VOTE’s effort came this far has many twists and turns. It involves a change in state law to help ease a breakaway from Los Angeles, and a 1st Amendment snafu that may have helped the group clinch the petition drive.

Paradoxically, it was some of the same people most critical of the petition drive who gave it a kick start. Many in city government oppose the effort to break up Los Angeles, but because city airport officials refused to let members of the secession group Valley VOTE circulate petitions at the Van Nuys Air Show in July, a contrite City Council called for Valley VOTE to be given extra time in its petition drive. Gov. Pete Wilson eventually complied, signing a bill into law.

The extra time proved decisive. The activists went from having about 137,000 signatures at the original deadline--20% short of the cushion they felt they needed--to 205,000 signatures to hand in at the new deadline for the petition drive in November. Officials began counting the signatures in December, and the secession effort appeared likely to move forward.

The year was also marked by an effort to revamp the structure of city government, which lumbered along without reaching clear conclusion or consensus. This effort, focused on reforming the city charter, was intended in part to dispel secessionist fervor.

But it was headed for confusion from the beginning when city officials created not one, but two, charter reform commissions to deliver recommendations. One, launched by Mayor Richard Riordan, is staffed by elected commissioners; the other is appointed by a City Council wary of mayoral power.

As the work progressed, the two panels lurched toward each other on some issues, but diverged on others. And as the year drew to a close, the prospects of putting a single new Los Angeles City Charter proposal before voters remained uncertain.

A conference committee that included members of the two commissions agreed on some key points, including expansion of the City Council and the mayor’s powers to remove managers. The full commissions will begin debating the proposed compromises in January, amid pressure from Riordan for the elected Charter Reform Commission not to water down its proposals.

But instead of soothing secessionist ire, charter reform seemed destined to be used as further ammunition by advocates of separate Valley cityhood.

Charter reform raised expectations, said Richard Close, chairman of Valley VOTE. “But once people realized it was a bait-and-switch, more people have come over to cityhood and secession being the only alternative.”

Elsewhere in local government, economic revival, not lawmaking, was the focus of legislative energy, said Keith Comrie, city administrative officer.

The pace of development picked up, fueled in some cases by public-private partnerships. A major building project in Hollywood, the construction of the Staples Center sports complex, the renovation of City Hall downtown and the development of the DreamWorks SKG studio complex grabbed headlines.

In the Valley, the first stores opened at the former site of a General Motors assembly plant in Panorama City, part of a project galvanized by Riordan and City Councilman Richard Alarcon.

In North Hollywood, plans are underway for a massive studio project backed by the Los Angeles Community Development Agency. The largest proposal to date would cover 50 acres with offices, studios and stores.

Neighbors around Universal Studios continued to battle the company’s massive 15-year expansion plan to add hotels and entertainment venues. Both county and city officials must approve the plan, ensuring further struggles over its final form.

Toward the end of the year, Los Angeles County supervisors voted to approve the largest planned development in the county’s history: The 21,000-home Newhall Ranch project will create a community the size of Camarillo on the banks of the Santa Clara River.

The Newhall Ranch approval immediately triggered a legal fight with Ventura County supervisors, who say the project would create a squeeze on water supplies. Environmentalists also found themselves on the defensive elsewhere as development pressures increased.

A hard-fought battle over the last free-flowing stretch of river in Los Angeles ended with a victory for developers in April, when the City Council--driven by fear of litigation--reluctantly agreed to allow a golf course in Big Tujunga Wash.

But there were also victories for environmentalists. Chatsworth Reservoir continued to evolve into a nature reserve, although the year ended with environmentalists and Department of Water and Power officials still squabbling over allowing the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to take it over. In Deervale Canyon, across the Valley, new parkland was purchased for preservation.

It was also a year of developing projects for government infrastructure and services. In the spring, city officials gave the go-ahead to construction of a new $30-million municipal service center next to the old City Hall building at Van Nuys Civic Center, pushed by City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski.

Voters decided to chip in extra funds for infrastructure and services in November when they approved five of eight proposed city ballot measures. Although a $760-million measure to repair sidewalks was defeated, funding for libraries and the Los Angeles Zoo was approved handily. Several new or expanded libraries will be in the Valley.

On the transportation front, prospects for the troubled Metropolitan Transportation Authority improved markedly in 1998, even as voters slapped the agency with a restrictive proposition aimed at blocking construction of new subways.

Under Chief Executive Julian Burke, the agency improved its standing with Congress and announced late in the year it will have more money than expected over the next six years. The San Fernando Valley subway line is expected to be completed in 2000.

New laws took second place to new construction in 1998, Comrie said, but a few changes were eked out. City Council members approved an ordinance pushed by Councilman Mike Feuer to ban tobacco and alcohol advertisements on billboards throughout most of the city.

A ban on gas-powered leaf blowers, approved by the council the previous year, finally went into effect in February after a chaotic period of hunger strikes and protest marches.

The year included several hard-fought political battles. Rep. James Rogan (R-Glendale) barely managed to hang to his congressional seat after a challenge by Barry Gordon. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) won reelection to Congress more easily.

Earlier in the year, in a contest that some observers said signaled a change in the nature of ethnic politics in the Valley, City Councilman Richard Alarcon narrowly won a primary contest against former Assemblyman Richard Katz, who sought a return to a state seat. The state Senate primary battle was so close it was followed by a grueling recount, mutual mudslinging and litigation. Alarcon was declared the winner by a mere 29 votes and went on to win the election.

He left for Sacramento on Dec. 7, sparking a hot contest to succeed him, with his wife, Corina, among the candidates.

Thus 1998 ends with a confirmation of new Latino political power in the Valley--or more precisely, a demonstration of the effectiveness of combining Latino votes with a multiethnic voting bloc, a trend that could set the Valley on a new political course in the future.

*

Times staff writers Patrick McGreevy and Miguel Bustillo contributed to this story.

Tuesday: The year in Valley residential real estate.