The Secession Process

It makes all the sense in the world that backers of San Fernando Valley secession, and not the Local Agency Formation Commission, should be the ones to come up with a plan for their proposed new city.

At the urging of county supervisor and LAFCO member Zev Yaroslavsky, the commission rightly sought to make that distinction clear last week by asking its recently hired consultant to revise a work plan for studying Valley and Harbor area cityhood so that the plan better distinguishes the roles and responsibilities of secessionists and consultants.

LAFCO, after all, is supposed to analyze whether breaking up the nation’s second-largest city would be revenue-neutral for both a new city and what remains of Los Angeles. To do so objectively, the commission obviously should not play a role in developing the very plan it would be called upon to evaluate.

One would think that something this obvious would not need clarification. But that has not proven to be the case.

Last month, for instance, the secessionist group Valley VOTE complained loudly when the City Council restricted its contribution to secession study costs to reviewing and analyzing data rather than developing specific plans for breaking up the city.

And so far Valley VOTE itself has submitted only the vaguest of plans. When it came to the city’s most complex--and basic--asset, for example, Valley VOTE’s blueprint for a municipal divorce called for Los Angeles and a new Valley city to jointly own and operate the water department.

But Valley VOTE sidestepped the terms of such an agreement, saying it could be determined after a public vote on secession.

In other words, Valley secessionists’ first attempt at articulating their vision of a new city asked voters to accept their plan on blind faith. By contrast, voters were given a far more specific blueprint in last year’s charter reforms, which they approved.

It’s one thing to complain that government doesn’t work. It’s another to present a concrete, realistic plan for fixing it.

Valley VOTE has steadfastly refused to foot any of the bill for its costly and divisive secession study. It shouldn’t get out of doing the work as well.