Borough Plan Pushed for Ballot

Two Los Angeles City Council members said Friday they hope to place a referendum on the November ballot that would create a borough system of government as an alternative to breaking up the city through secession measures.

Council members Wendy Greuel and Janice Hahn, who represent areas threatening to split off from Los Angeles, said a city charter amendment establishing seven to 15 boroughs would address secessionist complaints about a lack of local decision-making power.

“I heard frequently during my campaign in knocking on doors that the status quo is not good enough,” said Greuel, who was elected to her Van Nuys seat in March. “So I have been talking to people about how to design a borough system that brings government back to the people, that does a lot of what secessionists want.”

The full council would have to approve such a referendum. Council member Tom LaBonge, who also represents a potential secession area, said he is interested in exploring the idea. Council President Alex Padilla said he is “more than open” to it. Most other council members were noncommittal Friday.

Although Mayor James K. Hahn is the brother of council member Hahn and has said that heading off secession is his top priority, Tim McOsker, his chief of staff, declined to comment on the proposal, saying he had not seen it.

If the borough idea did end up on the ballot, it would dramatically alter the debate in a secession campaign.

Supporters of the still-sketchy proposal see it as a compromise between those who have concluded Los Angeles is too big to govern itself and those who take pride in the city’s size and influence. It would mimic to some extent the structure used in New York City.

The borough idea is not new at City Hall. Three years ago, a charter reform commission rejected a proposal for a borough government. The panel opted instead for a system of neighborhood advisory councils, which have little authority.

But that was before secession drives in the San Fernando Valley, harbor area and Hollywood began gathering momentum. All three are aimed at putting a breakup bid on the November ballot.

Several secession leaders signed on to the breakup effort only after the borough proposal died at the charter commission. The charter amendment being considered by the two council members Friday could give the city two years to come up with a system that keeps Los Angeles whole but grants some decision-making clout to the boroughs.

Under one scenario being considered, voters in each borough would elect a president and perhaps a five-member board. The presidents might also serve on a city council that would deal with broader issues. The mayor’s office would lose some say in local budget and land-use matters.

An alternative being considered would give the neighborhood councils more authority, and otherwise leave the City Council and mayor’s office unchanged.

Greuel said she would like the boroughs to also have sway in school decisions.

That would require a complex redrawing of Los Angeles Unified School District boundaries to correspond with those of the boroughs, according to political consultant John Shallman, who is working with Greuel.

School Board President Caprice Young said she is intrigued by the idea. “One of our big problems is jurisdictions don’t cooperate enough,” Young said. “If there were ways for the government structure to reinforce that cooperation, that would be good.”

Secession leaders, however, were skeptical. Valley VOTE Chairman Richard Close said a borough ballot measure could be viewed as “a campaign trick to fool voters into not voting for secession.”

The Local Agency Formation Commission is expected in the coming weeks to decide whether to put San Fernando Valley, Hollywood and harbor cityhood proposals on the ballot.

The borough plan would compete against any secession measure, although voters could approve both. Greuel said she has attorneys researching what would happen in that case.

Close said he doubted that other council members and Mayor Hahn would back a borough system because it would dilute their authority.

A majority of the 15-member City Council would have to approve the charter amendment by early August to qualify it for the November ballot. The mayor could veto such a decision; a vote by 10 council members could override a veto.

Councilwoman Hahn, who represents the harbor area, said she raised the borough issue at a recent meeting of city officials who were discussing ways to fend off the secession threat.

The mayor had a representative at that meeting, she said.

“I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be a great idea to not just have a “yes” and “no” on breaking up the city,’” Hahn said.

LaBonge, who represents part of Hollywood, said: “You don’t dismember a great city, and Los Angeles is a great city.”

Historian and California State Librarian Kevin Starr, a longtime proponent of a borough system, said it appears that city officials are waking up to the real possibility of Los Angeles being split into smaller cities. “You can’t answer this with silence,” he said of secession.

In New York, power is concentrated in the mayor and 51 council members, but five elected borough presidents control a fraction of the city’s budget.

The presidents are advised on land-use and zoning by community boards, much like Los Angeles’ neighborhood councils.