Hahn Shows He Will Fight for Los Angeles

I want to vigorously applaud Mayor James Hahn for finally stepping out and taking an unambiguous leadership role in the fight against secession (“Hahn Founds Panel to Fight Secession,” Nov. 16).

Contrary to the disappointing political spin comments made by Valley VOTE representatives, this is precisely the role a true city leader should take.

I’ve been desperately waiting for some elected officials to have the courage to take this battle on publicly instead of whispering their opposition in cloakrooms and on the phone.

As a native Angeleno and the daughter of a native Angeleno, I feel it’s pathetic that no one has stood up for the ambitions a great city like Los Angeles should have--which doesn’t include carving it into many tiny, self-serving, often homogenous enclaves. If the city needs to be better, and it does, and more responsive, and it does, then let’s really fight to make it so, fulfilling all the frontier-spirit ambitions of the visionary men and women who founded and built Los Angeles, as well as of those from all corners of the world who have dreamed of the possibilities ever since.

Donna Bojarsky

Los Angeles

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Re “Hahn Walks a Political Tightrope on Secession,” Nov. 18: Most of the people of the San Fernando Valley are not necessarily interested in secession as much as just having a city government that works.

In my personal experiences with various departments of the city of Los Angeles I have yet to encounter a single department or bureau that is anything more than barely functioning.

I have instead encountered consistent incompetence, lack of empowerment, indifference and just plain lies and stupidity. If Hahn wants this city to hold together, he need not raise $5 million for a campaign to kill secession but should instead spend the $5 million in an effort to clean up the mess that is the city government.

Encourage citizens to complain when a city service is not working, and investigate. Don’t turn the complaint over to a staffer who calls a department representative, only to relay whatever excuse is given--in my experience, a lie--back to the frustrated citizen. Investigate the complaint and, if necessary, let some heads roll. Make a pledge to the citizens of this city to listen to us and address our concerns and the secession thing will just go away.

Hahn has the opportunity to make the city of Los Angeles the best city in this country. Unite with us, don’t fight with us, Mr. Hahn.

Don Helton

Studio City

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A civil war is starting to shape up in Los Angeles. What started out as a simple question of whether the Valley should or could become an independent city is turning into a feud over money, property and the unwillingness of the established to give up control. The battle lines are drawn; the sides have been chosen.

We the citizens have to pick between the champions of control led by our big-business, paid-for mayor, his lap-dog lackey City Council President Alex Padilla and the other 14 City Council members versus the forces led by citizens hoping that a new city will mean the leaving behind of the problems that turned Los Angeles into a Third World metropolis with a second-rate municipal government.

This war, like all other wars, will have casualties: the first to fall will be the truth. For this offensive, the mayor has already started the hostilities by lining up deep-pocketed developers, lawyers and the usual array of political parasites to fund the attack. They’ll use the customary assortment of disinformation tactics, half-truths and outright lies to spread these weapons of war.

I only hope that all of the citizens of Los Angeles see these strategies and the practitioners of the mayor’s aggressions for what they really are.

Timothy S. Shannon

Sylmar