Valley Secession

* A recent Los Angeles city report has identified at least 20 issues that may be difficult to resolve as part of the process of creating new cities in the San Fernando Valley and the Harbor area (“Study Points to 20 Reasons Secession Is a Challenge,” Nov. 13).

Previously, in an article in The Times, professor Shirley Svorny argued that separation of the Valley from the city of Los Angeles would lead to a far more sensitive city government (presumably the new Valley city council), to the constituents’ desires, needs, aspirations and the like (“Urging Us to ‘Get Along’ Misses the Point,” Oct. 15).

It is quite obvious, even to the casual reader, that the secessionists are highly organized and motivated--they want to run their own city, never mind the consequences or the inordinate costs involved. The complex process of secession study, including the financial consequences to the resulting cities, including Los Angeles, appear to annoy the leaders of the secession movement. . . . None of the secessionists appear concerned about the inevitable increase in the costs of operating several cities instead of one.

It appears to me that it is high time that the citizens against secession should also organize themselves to counteract the secessionists. The City Council or the mayor alone cannot handle the coming battle without the active participation of the Angelenos opposed to secession.

DRO AMIRIAN

Studio City

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* In commenting on the Los Angeles city study outlining the difficulties of secession, Richard Close, who heads Valley VOTE, continues to cling to the belief that the critical water rights issue mentioned in the study can be resolved by simply operating the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power under a joint powers authority. Unfortunately for this rationale, this is where his neat little partition package falls apart, because the DWP is merely an operating arm of the city, and the city owns the rights.

The message is that every resident and businessperson in the Valley should weigh the risk of water shortages before they go overboard for secession. Another way to put it is caveat emptor.

LEON FURGATCH

Granada Hills

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* Every time Mayor [Richard] Riordan claims the only reason Valleyites have for wanting to secede is to turn our selfish backs on the city’s poor, it merely confirms his ignorance of life out here (“Mayor Rips Secession in Address,” Nov. 4). But then I suppose that when your excursions north of Mulholland are limited to fund-raising events in Encino, you might suppose that the entire Valley is poverty-free.

BURT PRELUTSKY

North Hills