Mayor Backs Vote on Cityhood

A day after a City Council official threatened a court challenge to a plan for San Fernando Valley secession, the Hahn administration on Wednesday renewed its pledge not to block a referendum on breaking apart Los Angeles.

“We strongly support allowing the voters to have a say on the matter,” said Deputy Mayor Matt Middlebrook.

Aides to Mayor James K. Hahn were unhappy that an aide to City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski told Valley residents at a public forum Tuesday that the city might go to court over concerns about water, power and other issues raised by the proposed breakup.

“Litigation is not a consideration at this point,” Middlebrook said.

“Our focus is to find positive ways to convince people that they should stay part of the city of Los Angeles by improving city services, improving transportation and improving the quality of life,” he said.

Miscikowski released a statement Wednesday saying she regretted the remarks by her chief of staff, Lisa Gritzner.

“I have no intention of initiating or supporting any obstruction, and I wholeheartedly support the issue of Valley cityhood being decided by the voters in 2002,” Miscikowski said.

Miscikowski stopped short of ruling out litigation, but said it was important “to determine the facts necessary to allow the voters to make an informed decision about the future of Los Angeles.”

Miscikowski’s appointment last week to the Local Agency Formation Commission, which will decide whether to place a referendum before voters, upset some Valley separatists. She opposes secession.

On Tuesday, Gritzner told Valley residents at a Panorama City debate: “There are very serious concerns over water, electricity and other things. . . . You can think that the city’s being obstructionist, but the city will not--will not--allow those things to go unlitigated.”

J. Richard Leyner, the debate host and a board member of the secession group Valley VOTE, said Wednesday that he welcomed Miscikowski’s “commitment to act in a manner that would be wholesome for the whole community.”

At a meeting Wednesday, LAFCO commissioners reviewed a schedule for 13 public hearings on Valley and harbor area secession proposals, from Oct. 10 through March 27.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, a commissioner, warned that panel members “could be criticized for not showing up” at all the hearings. LAFCO Chairman Henri Pellissier responded, “The people at these hearings would like to see us there. It’s very important to them, and I think it would show a lack of interest on our part if we couldn’t get a quorum.”

Pellissier wondered aloud whether the commissioners would get the $150 stipend they are paid for attending meetings.

“The answer is yes,” Yaroslavsky said.

The commissioners ordered their executive officer, Larry J. Calemine, to run the hearings if too few of them show up to call an official meeting. Calemine, a former Valley secession advocate, would provide them a summary of the public’s input.