Hahn to Talk Up ‘State of Valley’ With Its Leaders

Seeking to mend fences after a bitter secession campaign, Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn plans to credit his opponents in the San Fernando Valley today with spurring reform in City Hall. He also has invited the former candidates for office in the proposed Valley and Hollywood cities to meet next week.

Hahn is scheduled to give a “State of the Valley” speech at the annual meeting of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn., a group that endorsed secession. The mayor is attempting to enlist the support of the business community as he deals with his latest pressing issue: rising crime.

“The debate on whether to keep our city united changed Los Angeles and the way city government does business,” according to a draft of the speech. “The old bureaucracy has given way to a new and reinvigorated Los Angeles. And the state of the San Fernando Valley has never been stronger.”

In the speech, the mayor plans to outline the city’s success in building or renovating parks, police stations, fire stations and libraries in the Valley.

He will also note that the city has redrawn City Council boundaries to give the Valley a fifth district completely within the Valley. Record miles of street paving, sidewalk repairs and tree trimming have been budgeted.

“Never before has Los Angeles city government been so focused on listening to, and then meeting, the needs of the collection of neighborhoods that make up the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles,” the draft says.

The mayor also plans to use his speech to ask the business community to help the city tackle the rising crime rate in the Valley and throughout Los Angeles.

He says business leaders can become active in Neighborhood Councils, refer potential candidates to the Los Angeles Police Academy and make financial donations to the LAPD.

Hahn says in the speech draft that he has asked the City Council to enact business tax reforms to encourage a strong local economy. But that goal can also be advanced by making the city safer, he said.

“Companies are attracted by clean and safe neighborhoods, not by those ridden with crime and torn apart by gangs,” the draft says.

The mayor also plans to ask the Industry and Commerce Assn. and other Valley groups to work with him to “implement the types of reforms that serve to enhance the quality of life for all Los Angeles residents and businesses.”

That same message has gone out in a letter of invitation to the 132 secessionists who ran for office in the proposed Hollywood and San Fernando Valley cities.

The letter, co-signed by secession backer and Police Commissioner Bert Boeckmann, urged people to attend a town hall meeting with the mayor and put past differences aside so the two sides can come up with a unified approach to making City Hall work better.

Hahn is likely to face some skepticism, if not downright hostility, when he meets with the former candidates at the Encino Community Center next Monday night, judging from some initial reaction to the letter, which was sent Monday.

“It’s a public relations ploy. It’s a sham,” said Marc Strassman, one of the 10 candidates for mayor of the Valley city. “To have more than 100 people standing around asking the mayor questions is ludicrous. There are other ways to get our input if he was sincere. He could talk to us one on one.”

Voters citywide defeated Valley secession by a 2-1 ratio in the Nov. 5 election, although the measure won 50.7% of the votes in the Valley.