Movers and Shake-Ups Mark Politics in Valley

It has been a year of historic new developments and quiet last hurrahs in San Fernando Valley politics.

While Valley secession boosters advanced, longtime leaders such as Joel Wachs, Hal Bernson and John Ferraro were being elected to the City Council for the final time before term limits force them from office.

After kicking around for decades, secession moved closer than ever to reality in 1999 when county officials declared that the breakup group Valley VOTE had successfully collected signatures from a stunning 25% of area voters. That large number was required by state law to trigger the study, which must take place before the split can be placed on the ballot.

By gathering so many signatures, secessionists amassed hard evidence that many in the Valley are at least interested in exploring a municipal divorce. That, in turn, led to increased support from elected officials, who helped the secession drive dodge what could have been deadly obstacles.

Though secessionists had done their part by collecting the signatures, the Local Agency Formation Commission, the panel charged with conducting the study, had no money for the project. But Valley VOTE, flexing its new political muscle, quickly took care of that situation by enlisting the help of state, county and city officials to pick up the estimated $2.2-million tab.

“It has been a monumental year,” said Valley VOTE Chairman Richard Close. “We have gone from an idea three years ago that many people thought was irrational to something that more and more mainstream elected officials are now recognizing. The people have a right to vote on Valley cityhood.”

In addition to secession, 1999 was a watershed year for the San Fernando Valley as the area displayed its growing clout in setting the direction for Los Angeles’ future.

“I think 1999 was the year of the Valley,” said Wachs, who lives in Studio City. “The Valley has really started to flex its muscle, be more outspoken, and it has earned respect from people downtown.”

Most significantly, the Valley played a deciding role this year in adopting a comprehensive new charter for the city. Charter reform had its beginnings in the Valley when Studio City attorney David Fleming joined Mayor Richard Riordan in proposing creation of an elected charter reform commission.

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That panel and a commission appointed by the Los Angeles City Council proposed a major revision of the city’s blueprint of governance. It included creation of advisory neighborhood councils throughout the city, breaking up the Planning Commission into several regional commissions and giving the mayor more power to run the city as the chief executive.

Several key secession leaders also endorsed the new charter, and it was approved by 60% of voters citywide, drawing strong support in all of the council districts covering the Valley. In Council President John Ferraro’s 4th District, which includes parts of the southeast Valley, 71% of voters backed the new charter.

Valley voters played a different role in April, when they were decisive in the defeat of a $744-million bond measure for police and fire stations. A majority of voters in Valley council districts voted against that measure, which needed two-thirds support citywide. Many Valley civic leaders opposed the measure, saying it was too large and citing a past police bond measure that promised, but never delivered, a sixth police station in the Valley.

This year’s elections also began a major change in the City Council. City Council veterans Bernson, Ferraro and Wachs all won reelection, but because of term limits, this will be their last four years on the council.

Wachs has become a candidate for mayor in the 2001 election, in which he will face stiff opposition from a growing cast of heavyweights that includes Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, City Atty. James Hahn and Parks Commissioner Steven Soboroff.

Two other council members with Valley districts also announced this year they are seeking a higher office. Councilman Mike Feuer is running for city attorney in 2001 and Councilwoman Laura Chick has begun raising funds for a campaign for city controller.

This year also saw the rise to power of a relative newcomer with the election of Alex Padilla to the council’s 7th District seat, which spans the northeast Valley. Padilla, a legislative aide to Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar), bested five others to fill the vacancy created by Richard Alarcon, who moved to the state Senate.

The 26-year-old candidate shocked many by winning key endorsements from Riordan and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. In the end, he easily won election to become the council’s youngest member in a runoff against Corinne Sanchez, a political neophyte backed by Alarcon who runs a Valley health services agency.

Padilla joined a city government grappling with two major Valley controversies--the expansion of the Sunshine Canyon Landfill and a decades-long effort to reduce noise from Van Nuys Airport.

This month, the City Council voted to expand the Sunshine Canyon Landfill into Granada Hills. Opponents, including a group of residents called the North Valley Coalition, argued that a landfill was not appropriate within a mile of homes. The critics cited fear of health risks from the neighboring dump.

But dump operator Browning Ferris Industries spent $450,000 on lobbying for the landfill expansion, and had the support of city Sanitation Bureau officials, who argued the expansion was necessary for the city to have a place to dump its trash in coming decades. The issue is likely to stay alive into 2000 because the opponents have vowed to sue the city to overturn the expansion.

Van Nuys Airport also dominated the news this year, as the Airport Commission voted in July to propose new rules to reduce the number of noisy jets at the airfield.

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The plan would exempt about 50 of the older, Stage II jets already based at the airport and would allow those jets to be replaced during the next 10 years. But after 2010, those jets would have to leave the airport.

Many Valley business leaders opposed the change as harmful to the local economy, and many residents opposed it for not going far enough to phase out the noisiest jets.

At a special meeting in Van Nuys last month, the City Council decided to delay action for 90 days to study the matter further, so the airport debate will continue into the new year.