Funds for Hollywood Cityhood Study Cut

Hollywood secessionists were furious Tuesday after state legislators eliminated funding for a cityhood study from the pending state budget, threatening to delay a vote on the issue.

Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) said $234,000 to fund a required financial study of Hollywood cityhood was removed from the budget in committee.

“We got more than a billion dollars in requests for Bob to do as individual budget items,” aide Paul Hefner said. “There was not sufficient funding in the budget.”

He said it is unlikely that a new appropriation will be approved before the Legislature adjourns in September.

Gene La Pietra, a founder of Hollywood VOTE, said the state had previously provided funding for studies of San Fernando Valley and harbor-area cityhood proposals.

“It’s simply not fair,” La Pietra said. “If the Valley and harbor get funding, then by God, Hollywood should be funded.”

La Pietra still has hopes that the lack of money will not delay a study of Hollywood secession, noting that the Local Agency Formation Commission, the group charged with studying secession, has already been given the city of Los Angeles data on Hollywood’s assets and finances.

Larry Calemine, LAFCO’s executive director, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. He has said previously that the Hollywood study was on hold pending the state funding. The city and county have authorized $23,000 each as matching funds, but have not yet provided the money, La Pietra said.

Because the Hollywood petitions for cityhood were filed after those for the Valley and harbor, the proposal was already on a slower track. As a result, Hollywood was not expected to make the November 2002 ballot, which is the goal of LAFCO for the Valley and harbor.