Valley Secession

I read with great interest the jingoistic statement by Kevin Starr regarding the greatness of Los Angeles (Opinion, July 19). From all appearances, Starr would prefer living in a large city instead of one that is well run.

Starr apparently is not only out of touch with the San Fernando Valley but he surely was not interested in influencing our residents to stay within Los Angeles. He might find out that we are more than pornographers, as he asserts. We are not only the entertainment capital of the world, we are the multimedia capital and a high-tech hotbed.

Starr should understand that the greatness of a city is not made by its sheer girth. A great city is made up of good schools, low taxes, clean, safe, well-paved streets, well-maintained parks and responsive public employees. Give us that and the lord high commissioner (i.e., the mayor) would not have to come asking for us to stop considering Valley cityhood.

BRUCE L. BIALOSKY

Valley VOTE Treasurer

Studio City

* Thanks to Starr for saying what I’ve been thinking for a long time about San Fernando Valley secession. Do we Valleyites want to continue to be part of one of the world’s great cities? Or a city of our own that’s an amorphous mass of bloated malls, ratty mini-malls, and aging housing tracts? A city without a single art museum, concert hall, sports stadium or architectural gem? A city so lacking a natural focal point that it would breathe new life into Gertrude Stein’s quote, “There’s no there there”?

Man does not live by tax breaks alone. By all means, let’s get appropriate representation in L.A.’s City Hall, but let’s think twice on the subject of what kind of urban identity we want.

DOUG RALEIGH

Woodland Hills