Dump Expansion Bolsters Case for Secession

San Fernando Valley secessionists seized on Sunshine Canyon as a battle cry Thursday, saying the Los Angeles City Council’s decision to expand the dump will further their cause.

Many north Valley residents who were against secession or ambivalent about it have suddenly become ardent supporters since the City Council voted 8-7 Wednesday to approve expansion of the Sunshine Canyon Landfill, said Wayde Hunter, president of the North Valley Coalition.

“I had little old ladies come up to me who were so mad, saying we’ve got to get out of Los Angeles,” Hunter said.

Valley VOTE, the main group backing secession, has not taken a position on Sunshine Canyon. Even so, the group released a statement Thursday saying the council vote showed why the San Fernando Valley would be better off as a separate city, and suggesting the vote may add momentum to the secession drive.

“It is one more grievance the Valley will add to the long list of historical abuse, neglect and discrimination waged by the City Council majority against the people of the Valley,” the group said, adding, “It may seal the fate of Los Angeles to be reorganized [in]to smaller more responsible and accountable cities.”

With most Valley council members opposing the dump, the expansion might not have been approved if the Valley had its own city, said Jeff Brain, president of Valley VOTE.

But City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, whose district includes part of the Valley, said Thursday she does not think the vote will provide a significant boost to secessionists.

Miscikowski, who voted for the expansion, said neighbors of the landfill felt strongly about the dump, but she also saw a petition with 1,000 signatures from Valley residents and business people who supported the expansion.

“There were people in the Valley on both sides of the issue,” she said.

Miscikowski said allowing dump operator Browning Ferris Industries to expand into territory it had previously operated as a landfill “made sense.” Putting thousands of trash trucks on the freeway driving out of the city would have caused serious environmental problems.

“We need, in the long-term future, even with advances in recycling, a place to have our trash deposited,” Miscikowski said.

Still, local outrage over the council vote will probably reverberate for months to come, in the courts as well as in the voting booth.

North Valley Coalition members said they would meet Thursday night to plot a strategy, buoyed by a pledge from Councilman Hal Bernson to contribute $1,000 to a court battle and to help raise funds for a lawsuit.

“There aren’t that many other options,” said Bernson, whose district includes the expanded landfill.

Coalition leaders outlined a possible multi-pronged approach.

The opponents will continue to press Mayor Richard Riordan to veto the ordinance, although Riordan has voiced support for the expansion.

Some coalition leaders were considering challenging the way the vote was held, noting that city bureaucrats drafted the final motions in a confusing way that prevented council members who opposed the expansion from voting for a 10-year cap on operations.

But Councilman Joel Wachs, who opposed the measure, said that strategy is unlikely to work.

“Those are technical issues,” Wachs said. “The reality is the votes aren’t there.”

Wachs, however, agreed that there would be political fallout.

“It fuels secession,” Wachs said of the vote. “People feel that their voice isn’t listened to.”

Coalition leader Mary Edwards said the group will also challenge Browning Ferris Industries as it applies for state permits from water, air and waste-management agencies.

And then there is the lawsuit, which is likely to allege that the city failed to adequately consider the environmental effects of the landfill expansion into 194 acres in Granada Hills.

Edwards estimated the cost of a lawsuit would be about $75,000 to get through to a Superior Court decision, with other funds needed for appeals.

Arnie Berghoff, a spokesman for BFI, said the company believes it is on firm legal ground. He noted the landfill operator was sued seven times when it opened operations in the unincorporated county area north of Granada Hills, and that it prevailed in each case.

“Unfortunately, on any project that has any impact on anyone, there is always a lawsuit,” Berghoff said.

Hunter said BFI won the council approval because it outspent its foes, pouring $450,000 into a lobbying campaign for the dump. Opponents, who said the expansion would jeopardize the health of residents and lower property values, mounted a grass-roots campaign, which fell short on Wednesday.

Among supporters of the expansion, Miscikowski has become the focus of the dump opponents’ ire because she was a leading voice for expanding Sunshine Canyon, although she fought Mission Canyon Landfill in Sepulveda Pass in the 1970s, before she was elected to the council.

On Thursday, some opponents were talking about political payback, either through a recall or by opposing Miscikowski when she is up for reelection in 2001.

“I think if I was Cindy Miscikowski I’d be looking behind me,” said coalition president Hunter. “She can kiss her political ambitions goodbye.”

Coalition members said they might get involved in a recall, but admitted to being at a disadvantage because a recall would have to be mounted by residents of Miscikowski’s district, which does not include Granada Hills.

“What we are talking about here in Granada Hills is a community of people who work and can’t do what is required on a massive scale to collect signatures,” Edwards said.

Edwards and Hunter said they would be more likely to support an opponent of Miscikowski’s in the next election.

They noted that the landfill expansion was also opposed by groups in Miscikowski’s district, including the Federation of Hillside and Canyon Assns.

Miscikowski said she is not overly concerned about the political implications.

“One can’t dismiss it and say one is not worried,” she said, but added: “Obviously if someone raises this in the reelection it will be an issue I will speak to.”