Los Angeles’ Challenges Require the Courage of Unity

A siren song is echoing across Los Angeles these days, enticing people with the enchanting promise that breaking up the city will somehow fix it.

But like the sailors in Greek mythology who crashed their ships on the rocky shore, so too are we at risk if we allow ourselves to heed the siren call of secession.

Secession is a divisive strategy that offers little in the way of solutions to the challenges we face in Los Angeles. We all agree that city government needs to be reformed to give Angelenos a greater voice in civic affairs and to make City Hall more accountable to the residents of our city. Angelenos want and deserve a sense of ownership not only of their homes, but of their streets, their neighborhood, their community, their city. I join Angelenos who are frustrated with the lack of accountability in city government.

But the problems will not be solved by simply forming another city, and maybe another and another and another, until maybe someday someone gets it right. The best way we can meet the challenges is to find the courage to stand and work together to reform and build our city, rather than raising a sledgehammer to break it apart.

Together the people of Los Angeles comprise a whole that is so much greater than the sum of its parts. Our strength is in our great depth and diversity, the multiplicity of opinion, experience, culture, lifestyle and values that is the fabric of Los Angeles. This is the competitive base upon which we should work to build a better 21st century Los Angeles for our children.

To reach that goal, we need to rewrite the city charter to make city government--the mayor’s office, the City Council and the permanent bureaucracy--more accountable to the people, and to create a modern government structure that works. The issues are complex.

For some, secession is a matter of “fair share,” a belief that somehow one area of the city is being shortchanged in comparison to another. Although that may have been true in the past, notably in the San Fernando Valley, it is less so now, largely because of the efforts of my administration.

Valley taxpayers, for example, make up 35% of the population and contribute about 33% of the city’s tax revenue. Under my administration, nearly one-third of all city commissioners are Valley residents, and the Valley receives 40% of street maintenance funds, 38% of building and safety funds, 37% of animal regulation services and 37% of sanitation services.

For other people, secession is a matter of respect and a self-conscious feeling that somehow, somewhere, someone in the city is looking down on someone else. We need to get over that, to treat one another with respect no matter where we live: the Valley, the Westside, the harbor, the East Side, the central city. We’re all Angelenos, worthy of each other’s respect and support.

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For still other people, secession is a question of size and a belief that Los Angeles is simply too big to be governed effectively. We need to give the city’s far-flung neighborhoods a greater voice, to overcome their feelings of isolation and distance from City Hall. But we should never forget the benefits that come from being a large city: a world-class airport and port, world-renowned universities, political clout at the state and national levels, a regional economy that is setting the pace for the country and the most sophisticated water and power delivery system in the United States.

The message I am taking to people in every corner of the city is a simple one: Stop working to tear this city apart. Instead, join me in bringing the city together. Work with me to reform the city charter. Now is not the time to fall out and be divided. Now is the time to stay strong and work together.

The union of our hearts and our hands will build a new Los Angeles, stronger and better than ever. If we can do that together, who needs another city?