Valley Secessionists See Dump Issue as a Boost

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 San Fernando Valley residents who were against secession or ambivalent about it have become ardent supporters since the City Council’s 8-7 vote Wednesday to approve expansion of the Sunshine Canyon dump, 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 group backing secession, has not taken a position on Sunshine Canyon. Even so, the group released a statement Thursday saying that the council vote showed why the 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 that “it may seal the fate of Los Angeles to be reorganized to smaller, more responsible and accountable cities.”

With most Valley council members opposing the expansion, the dump 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 that 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 businesspeople who supported the expansion.

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

The councilwoman said that allowing dump operator Browning-Ferris Industries to expand into territory it had operated as a landfill until 1991 “made sense” and that putting thousands of trash trucks on the freeway leaving 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.

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

“There aren’t that many other options,” Bernson said.

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 a challenge to 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 fallout.