Committee OKs Funding for Hollywood’s Secession Study

A Los Angeles City Council committee on Friday agreed to help pay for a study on cityhood for Hollywood, but uncertainty over county and state funding cast doubt on whether a plan to secede from Los Angeles could be put before voters next year.

Supporters of Hollywood cityhood are scrambling to scrape together the $290,000 requested for the study by Los Angeles County’s Local Agency Formation Commission.

The commission is already preparing a fiscal study of proposals for San Fernando Valley and harbor area secession from Los Angeles, which it hopes to finish in time to put them on the November 2002 ballot.

Supporters of Hollywood secession want their proposal put to a vote at the same time, but first LAFCO must come up with the money to add their plan to the study.

On Friday, the City Council’s ad hoc committee on secession approved a plan to chip in $29,000. The proposal must still clear the full council. And neither the county nor the state has agreed to provide the rest. The $2.6-million Valley and harbor study is being paid for by the city, county and state.

“It’s the only fair thing to do, to give us the funding they gave for the Valley and the harbor,” said Fares Wehbe, president of the Hollywood VOTE secession group.

Meanwhile, the council committee tried to end a dispute between LAFCO and city officials over a municipal revenue report that LAFCO says it needs for the secession study. The draft report released by the city last month broke down L.A.’s revenue by geography, giving the amounts produced by the Valley, the harbor area and the rest of the city.

LAFCO charged that the report used incomplete and inaccurate data. The commission also accused City Hall of trying to sabotage its secession study with delays in finishing the revenue report.

The council committee ordered city officials to give LAFCO a final revenue report by Feb. 15.

“They should not be stonewalled,” said Councilman Joel Wachs.

“Nor have they been,” responded Chief Legislative Analyst Ron Deaton.