Petition Drive for Secession Study Begins

It has been two years since a handful of discontented San Fernando Valley residents united in support of legislation easing the way for political secession from the city of Los Angeles.

Leaders of the group--called Valley Vote--soon will learn if their perseverance has paid off.

Today, an estimated 4,000 volunteers are expected to fan out across the Valley in an attempt to collect 135,000 signatures on a petition authorizing a study of secession’s impact. It is the first step in a long, complicated breakup process.

But a Times survey shows that, as the signature drive begins, there is no consensus within Valley Vote itself. Two-thirds of the group’s directors are not convinced that secession is the best way to redress their grievances about the shortcomings of city government, according to the survey.

Nearly three-fourths of the 21 board members say the top reason they support the petition drive is to provide the information needed to decide on secession.

“I want to see what the facts and figures are about whether the San Fernando Valley can stand on its own feet,” said board member Walter N. Prince, the president of a janitorial services company in Northridge.

Of the Valley Vote members who do support secession, three out of four say a breakup is needed because Los Angeles is too big and the civic bureaucracy is unresponsive.

“It’s an issue of the delivery of municipal services,” said board treasurer Bruce L. Bialosky, a Studio City real estate broker who supports secession. “It’s not happening the way it should be in Los Angeles because of its size.”

Although the group as a whole is reluctant to endorse secession, three out of four board members say they believe that the Los Angeles Unified School District should be broken up.

“I’m for [breaking up the district] for the same reasons I support Valley independence: We need smaller, more responsive government,” said board member Gerald A. Silver, a college professor from Encino.

The Times survey showed that about half of Valley Vote board members are also members of Valley homeowner groups. The rest are members of business groups or charitable organizations or work independently as community activists. Board members are long-time residents, having lived in the Valley for an average of 32 years, the survey shows.

The group--led by Jeff S. Brain, a real estate consultant and former president of the Sherman Oaks Chamber of Commerce, and Richard H. Close, an attorney and president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn.--operates out of a donated storefront office in Sherman Oaks. Brain and Close have repeatedly declined to identify the group’s financial backers or disclose how much the group has raised in contributions. They say they are concealing the names of contributors to protect them from retribution by secession opponents, such as the City Council.

Brain said he also is negotiating with Kimball Petition Management of Agoura Hills to use about 70 professional petition circulators to help the organization’s volunteers collect signatures. Brain said Kimball will be paid 93 cents per signature.

Valley Vote plans to take advantage of Tuesday’s primary elections by stationing volunteers to collect signatures near about 250 Valley polling sites.

Valley Vote has 90 days to collect the signatures of 25% of the Valley’s voters--about 135,000 people. If the group succeeds, the Local Agency Formation Commission, an independent regional panel, must conduct a study on the feasibility of Valley secession.

If the study shows that the Valley can sustain itself as a separate city without financially hurting Los Angeles, the county Board of Supervisors will put a secession measure on a citywide ballot. To pass, the measure would have to receive a majority vote in both the Valley and the city as a whole.

Times researcher Stephanie Stassel and correspondent Donna Mungen contributed to this story.