Hollywood Secession Hits Rough Patch

The road to cityhood for Hollywood got a little rougher Wednesday when a splinter group asked to stick with Los Angeles and a county panel balked at tapping funds set aside for a review of San Fernando Valley secession.

Hollywood cityhood proponent Gene La Pietra said he was not discouraged and believes the proposal will still make the November 2002 ballot.

“This process was never intended to be easy,” he said. “This is just one of those bumps in the road.”

Perhaps the biggest bump was the Local Agency Formation Commission’s refusal Wednesday to finance a required study of the financial impact of turning Hollywood into an independent city with money already allocated for similar studies of cityhood proposals for the Valley and Harbor areas.

Instead, the panel decided to ask Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) and city and county officials for an additional appropriation of $290,000 to pay for a financial feasibility study for Hollywood.

LAFCO Chairman Thomas Jackson said he was not willing to jeopardize the Valley and Harbor studies by dipping into their budgets, even if it jeopardizes the chances of Hollywood cityhood to make the 2002 ballot with the other two proposals.

“If it interferes with the Harbor and Valley, I’m not for it,” Jackson said. “That [Hollywood proposal] just arrived.”

The money was accepted with the understanding it would be spent on Valley and Harbor studies, county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said.

“If we deviate from that, we’ve got some answering to do to the people of the San Fernando Valley,” Yaroslavsky said.

Boosters of Valley cityhood, such as Valley VOTE Chairman Richard Close, said they do not oppose using some of the budgeted funds to keep the Hollywood study going until more state money is allocated.

The result of Wednesday’s action may be that a Hollywood study is delayed, according to LAFCO Executive Director Larry Calemine. Even if the analysis for Hollywood is not completed until May or June, there still is a good chance Hollywood can be included on the 2002 ballot, Calemine said.

Anti-cityhood forces made an appearance Wednesday as a group called the East Hollywood Community Assn. turned in nearly 3,500 signatures Wednesday asking LAFCO to exclude a one-square-mile area from the 19-square-mile Hollywood city proposal.

Jim McQuiston, a representative of the group, said residents of the area--generally bounded by Western Avenue, Hollywood Boulevard, Sunset Boulevard, Hyperion Avenue and Melrose Avenue--want to remain in Los Angeles.

“We don’t participate in anything in Hollywood. We don’t buy there, We identify with Los Angeles,” McQuiston said.

The latest petitions were submitted informally and cannot stop the study of Hollywood secession that was triggered by a formal petition process that collected the signatures of 25% of the registered voters in the area, Calemine said.

LAFCO has authority to reduce the size of the proposed city if there is strong opposition from specific neighborhoods, officials said.

Yaroslavsky said he agrees that the Hollywood proposal may be controversial for many residents.

“I think this one has less prospect for success than the other two,” he said, referring to the Valley and Harbor secession efforts.