Secession Study

Your July 2 article, “Mayor on a Mission of Peace,” was a truly excellent and compelling statement about why the citizens of the San Fernando Valley ought not trust the leadership of Valley VOTE in their signature campaign for a [Local Agency Formation Commission] study for secession.

Jeff Brain states, “He’s [the mayor] not taking us at our word. . . . All we want to do is get the facts.” I consider “word” to be sacred, and if one reads Valley VOTE’s petition preamble, perhaps one can see very clearly why the mayor has been unwilling to take them at theirs. It states, “this petition proposes to require LAFCO to study and approve for a vote . . . the question of forming a new, independent city within the San Fernando Valley.” That sounds like a demand for LAFCO to endorse secession of the Valley.

The petition then states, “We, the people” petition LAFCO “for approval of a proposed reorganization,” defined in Article 2. . . . My reading of that language says that leaders of Valley VOTE are making a demand for secession, not a study. In face of this contradiction, how are we to believe the assertion that they only want a study of the economic feasibility of the Valley as an independent city? The plea that the mayor doesn’t take them at their word is a credit to the perceptivity of the mayor. To my mind they have demonstrated that they are not merely interested in assessing the potential economic viability of the San Fernando Valley as a city, but are committed to secession, even without the benefit of the results of the LAFCO study. That should give clear warning to all Valleyites that they should very carefully read and understand the Valley VOTE petition before giving it their support.

ROBERT L. RODINE, Sherman Oaks