Valley VOTE, Civil Rights

* I couldn’t help but laugh at Jeff Brain’s comparison of city secession to the civil rights and women’s suffrage movements (“Secession Efforts Are Part of an American Activist Tradition,” Dec. 10).

These historical movements were about the individual’s rights to fundamental liberties conferred upon them by the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution, not a debate over whose street is cleaner or who receives better trash pickup.

Forgive my cynicism, but I find it quite amusing whenever I hear wealthy attorneys and multimillion-dollar business owners touting “grass-roots” efforts. One only needs to glance at Valley VOTE’s list of executive board members, including the organization’s founders, to discover an exclusive who’s who of Los Angeles’ wealthiest echelon. What makes these elites less “arrogant” than those to which Brain refers in his [article]?

As someone who has lived in the San Fernando Valley my entire life, I resent Valley VOTE for their own arrogance in expecting us to believe that the secession movement, backed by the very elite they claim to reject, is going to benefit poorer communities, particularly in the Northeast Valley.

Additionally, I have yet to hear their strategy for preventing the concentration of power among our own Valley elites.

How naive to assume that smaller is better when we cannot guarantee effective leadership and equal community participation.

From what I’ve seen, the secession movement is nothing more than a political platform for the Valley’s own selfishly ambitious elites, tired of having to compete for votes and money in a large, vastly diverse city. What better way to acquire power than to create your own constituency?

How dare Jeff Brain compare that to the civil rights movement!

SETH ROSEN

Northridge