$2 Million Sought for Secession Study

Hoping to help the city, county and state pay for a study of San Fernando Valley secession, U.S. Reps. Brad Sherman and Howard “Buck” McKeon on Thursday asked Congress to commit $2 million toward the analysis.

In a letter to the House Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Independent Agencies, Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) and McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) argued that a study on the ramifications of breaking up Los Angeles could benefit the entire nation.

“Los Angeles is perhaps the quintessential 20th century city, having grown up in the age of the automobile and having experienced sprawl before most other urban areas,” McKeon and Sherman wrote. “A case study in governance and organization of Los Angeles, and its largest region, the San Fernando Valley, would be a case study that the entire nation could learn from.”

Secession group Valley VOTE recently collected 132,000 signatures from registered Valley voters, which under state law triggered a study on the economic consequences of splitting up Los Angeles. However, the funding for the unprecedented study, expected to cost several million dollars, has yet to be secured.

Some city and county leaders have pledged to seek money to share the billwith secession backers, and a state committee is considering whether the Legislature should also pick up a portion of the tab, but nothing has taken place so far.

The letter by McKeon and Sherman marks an effort to enlist the federal government as well. McKeon, who fought hard to help Santa Clrita become a city more than a decade ago and later became the city’s mayor, said he could not estimate the probability of success on this issue.

“It’s uphill, because in spite of our argument that this could benefit the entire country, this will be seen as a local issue,” Sherman said. Valley VOTE chairman Richard Close said he was optimistic that Congress would help pay for the secession study.

“The fact that it’s a Republican and Democrat [asking for the money] should help,” Close said. “We in the Valley help pay for studies in Oregon and Boston, so I don’t see why this should be seen as any different.”