Hollywood Secessionists Launch Their Petition Drive

Promising to dramatically revitalize their town--perhaps by converting Hollywood Boulevard into a pedestrian mall--Hollywood cityhood supporters began a petition campaign Tuesday that could lead to independence from Los Angeles.

Community leaders have six months to collect the signatures of 20,000 voters within the proposed 4-square-mile city to trigger a county study of the economic feasibility of secession.

If they get a green light from the Local Agency Formation Commission, backers hope to be part of a three-way Los Angeles breakup effort with secessionists from the San Fernando Valley and San Pedro.

Representatives of the Valley and harbor-area cityhood campaigns attended Tuesday’s petition kickoff in a ballroom of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, the scene of the first Academy Awards show in 1928.

Supporters said they anticipate all three areas qualifying for a citywide breakup vote in spring 2002. At least 50% of voters throughout L.A. must approve any secession; about 60% of the city’s voters live in the Valley, Hollywood and harbor areas.

Longtime Tinseltown booster Johnny Grant, Hollywood’s so-called honorary mayor and the host of its frequent Walk of Fame ceremonies, was the first person to sign a petition Tuesday.

He predicted that the independence feasibility study will be “as intriguing as a Hitchcock movie and as revealing as a Frederick’s of Hollywood lingerie catalog.”

“Let’s analyze the facts to determine if cityhood is practical and cost-efficient. If it isn’t, let’s forget it and use our energies to improve the existing system,” Grant said.

Leaders of Hollywood VOTE--Voters Organized Toward Empowerment--said they are convinced the study will show that the community’s about 160,000 residents pay more in taxes than they receive in services.

Smaller cities such as Glendale, Burbank and Culver City have had more success with revitalization than Los Angeles has with cleaning up seedy sections of Hollywood, they said.

“I think people feel Hollywood is not all it could be. It’s probably the most famous place in the world, but when people get off tourist buses, they’re surprised at what they see,” said Michael Weinstein, a health care activist and the secession group’s vice president. “We see Universal City duplicating Hollywood’s image. But we drive down Hollywood Boulevard and we see tattoo parlors, too many T-shirt shops, nudie places and a gun store. We can do better than that.”

One concept that cityhood backers are considering is turning the boulevard into a pedestrian mall. It would be developed as a tourist attraction with a movie industry theme, perhaps centered around the planned new home of the Academy Awards.

Weinstein, Hollywood VOTE President Faris Wehbe and other members of the group’s board said they have pledged not to seek election to the Hollywood City Council if incorporation is approved. Grant said he is not interested in exchanging his honorary title for a job as the real mayor.

The proposed city would be roughly bounded on the west by West Hollywood and Laurel Canyon Boulevard; on the south by 3rd Street, Beverly Boulevard, Clinton Street and the Hollywood Freeway; on the east by Hoover Street, Myra Avenue, Franklin Avenue and Griffith Park; and on the north by Forest Lawn Drive, the Los Angeles River, the Hollywood Freeway and Wrightwood Drive.

Hollywood leaders said that they have worked with Valley secession backers to determine the northern boundary and that residents of east Hollywood were polled about being included in the new city. Leaders said about 300 volunteers will circulate petitions and that donations will cover the $100,000 in other costs.