City Urged to Find Breakup Study Funds

Reaching across Los Angeles, City Council members backing cityhood studies for the San Fernando Valley and the Harbor joined forces Tuesday to formally request that the city identify funds to help pay for the work.

Councilmen Joel Wachs of Studio City and Rudy Svorinich Jr. of San Pedro moved that city officials report on the cost of potential studies of secession for the Valley, Harbor, Eastside and Westside, and report on potential funding sources.

Svorinich and Wachs said the city should pay part of the cost of cityhood studies, including one triggered last week when Valley secessionists turned in more than 132,000 valid signatures seeking a review of the economic impact of a municipal breakup. That review will be done by the Local Agency Formation Commission.

“Keeping in mind the cost, a significant number of residents in the San Fernando Valley have spoken of the need for a formal study on secession by LAFCO and are entitled to having that commitment met by LAFCO and the involved local government agencies,” Svorinich said.

Wachs signed the Valley petition seeking the study, but he said he wants to see the results before taking a position on Valley cityhood. He said the city, county and state should all pay for a share of the study, which is estimated to cost between $1.8 million and $2.6 million just for the Valley secession issue.

“I think all three government levels should each chip in,” said Wachs. “It would be absolutely wrong for the voters, who have already gone out and gotten the signatures, to have to pay for it.”

Most council members are undecided, and some, including Richard Alatorre, Rita Walters and Laura Chick, oppose city funding.

“I’m trying to figure out where the dollars are to deliver all of the services that the people of my district and the rest of the city need and deserve,” Chick said. “I don’t see that we have millions of dollars in city taxpayer money at this point in time to be spent on a study.”

Councilman Hal Bernson, a member of LAFCO, predicted a judge would have to decide who pays for it.

“I think the city and county probably are not going to want to expend the funds to do it and the Valley VOTE people don’t have the money to do it,” Bernson said.

Another petition is due late next month from residents of San Pedro and Wilmington seeking a study of cityhood for those communities.

John Roberts of Harbor Vote said Tuesday his group needs to turn in 13,700 signatures by the last week of April and has nearly 11,000 signatures in hand.

“We’d like to be able to get 20,000 to 25,000 signatures, but a lot of people don’t even know about this,” he said.

Svorinich signed the Harbor-area petition, and supports a study.

“My gut feeling has always been that San Pedro and Wilmington should be their own cities,” Svorinich said. “However, I would not cast the vote today to do that without the study.”

Also Tuesday, two influential legislators asked that a study now underway to determine who should pay the study cost be speeded up.

Assemblymen Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) and Tom McClintock (R-Northridge) asked the Commission on Local Governance for the 21st Century to recommend a funding plan.

The commission--whose members include San Diego Mayor Susan Golding, Valley businessman Bert Boeckmann and former MTA Chairman Larry Zarian--was created to suggest changes to local government laws. But because the commission is not scheduled to release its recommendations until the end of the year, Hertzberg and McClintock, in making the request, want the panel to discuss the secession issue quickly and make a suggestion as soon as possible.

“I’m specifically asking them to deal with this issue in time for us to act on it in the Legislature this year,” Hertzberg said. “We’ve put this commission together, so let’s get our money’s worth from them.”