Studio City Group Wants Out of Hollywood Plan

A group of Studio City residents has asked to be left out of the proposed city of Hollywood, raising the second boundary challenge in as many months.

Last month, a group of east Hollywood residents also petitioned to be removed from the proposed city.

“We did an informal poll, and nobody in Studio City thinks of themselves as being part of Hollywood,” said Tony Lucente, president of the Studio City Residents Assn. “They all identify more with the [San Fernando] Valley.”

The area is also included in the Valley’s proposed breakaway city. It includes a section of Studio City south of the Hollywood Freeway, north of Mulholland Drive, east of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and west of Regal Place. Lucente estimated that the disputed area includes about 1,000 homes.

The Studio City association has supported the study of Valley cityhood, but is awaiting the results before taking a position. One thing the association knows for sure is that it does not want to be part of the Hollywood city, Lucente said.

Hollywood VOTE Chairman Gene La Pietra said some Studio City residents asked to be included in the Hollywood city. He said that more than 500 signatures were collected in the section of Studio City that is overlapped by the two cityhood proposals.

“It appears that an overwhelming number of folks there want to be part of new Hollywood city,” La Pietra said. He said it will be up to the residents and the Local Agency Formation Commission to decide which of the proposed cities, if either, would include the overlapped area of Studio City.

LAFCO officials said that they will hold hearings after the financial studies are completed and that they can remove communities from any new cities if there is strong opposition to being included.

“We don’t want anyone included that doesn’t want to be included,” La Pietra said.

Secessionists said they do not believe that losing Studio City would jeopardize the financial viability of a new city, but they are about to launch a campaign to shore up support in east Hollywood. “We are going out there on the road to hold meetings and let people know what we are proposing,” said Fares Wehbe, president of Hollywood VOTE.