Airport Board to Pay $50,000 to Settle Secession Petitioners’ Suit

City airport officials agreed Tuesday to pay a $50,000 settlement to Valley VOTE, whose representatives were ousted from a Van Nuys air show in July while collecting signatures on petitions seeking a vote on whether to study San Fernando Valley secession.

The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners unanimously approved the deal, resolving a lawsuit filed by Valley VOTE in U.S. District Court accusing the city of violating the constitutional rights of the petition gatherers. Airport security barred Valley VOTE members from the Van Nuys Aviation Expo ’98 on July 18-19.

City Atty. James K. Hahn apologized for the incident, as have other city officials. However, the city made no admission of wrongdoing in the settlement, though Hahn’s investigation determined that the petitioners’ rights were violated.

“I think everybody recognized that they should have been able to gather signature at the air show,” Hahn said. “It’s a public event, and this is one of our most cherished constitutional rights. . . . It’s unfortunate that the security personnel were, I think, in error.”

Hahn also sent a memo to all city departments aimed at boosting awareness of 1st Amendment rights.

The city owns Van Nuys Airport. Because the money will come out of the airport department’s budget, not the city general fund, the settlement was submitted to the airport commissioners. Hahn said he believes that the City Council will let the decision stand.

Leaders of Valley VOTE commended Hahn’s quick action and said they were happy to put the matter behind them.

“We decided the best course of action was to quickly settle this and to avoid a lengthy battle,” said Richard Close, chairman of Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment. “We’re going to need the city’s cooperation and assistance over the next year or so.”

Valley VOTE needs to collect about 135,000 signatures from registered voters in the Valley to trigger a study and possible citywide ballot initiative on severing the Valley from Los Angeles to create an independent city.

Close said Valley VOTE has collected 165,000 signatures thus far and wants to gather at least 185,000 before its Nov. 27 deadline.

Hahn said he worked personally on the settlement, negotiating with attorney David Fleming, a city fire commissioner and one of Valley VOTE’s biggest financial backers. Hahn said Fleming contacted him and offered to serve as an intermediary, since they both hoped to avoid the cost of a court battle.

Valley VOTE and the American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit in August, alleging that airport officials violated the federal and state constitutions by ejecting signature gatherers from the Van Nuys air show, which attracted about 250,000 spectators.

Under the settlement agreement, Valley VOTE will receive $45,000 to compensate for the lost signatures. The ACLU will receive $5,000 to cover attorney fees.

Valley VOTE’s portion of the settlement was calculated based on the rough guess that Valley VOTE lost the chance at about 20,000 signatures, and that each signature costs the organization about $1 to $3 to obtain from a professional petitioning company, Hahn said.