Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

If the San Fernando Valley were to “leave” Los Angeles, where would it go? Nowhere. To hear the rhetoric from Los Angeles City Hall, you would think the Valley had a fleet of U-Hauls lined up.

The Valley is not abandoning Los Angeles. Valley residents will continue to work and play and spend money in L.A. We will continue to root for the Lakers and to frequent L.A. restaurants. Angelenos won’t need a passport to visit people in the Valley.

Valley independence is about core values: community, accountability and quality of life.

City Hall has largely ignored the Valley for many decades. Valley residents get roughly one LAPD officer per 1,000 people, while the rest of L.A. gets two.

Valley taxpayers paid more than $1.8billion in Proposition A and C funds to support the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, yet the Valley has no mass transit system and only a stub of the Metro Red Line. The rest of L.A. has the Red, Blue and Green lines.

The Valley has half the libraries that the rest of L.A. has in a comparable area.

By forming an independent city, Valley residents can exert more local control and focus resources at the neighborhood level--improving local parks, preserving open space, improving transportation, reducing crime and controlling gangs.

Valley cityhood would increase accountability, both in the Valley and in Los Angeles. Valley residents would have their own mayor and city council members who live in the Valley. L.A. residents would enjoy better representation because their council districts would be 40% smaller.

Ethnic diversity would be enhanced. The Valley’s rich mix of ethnic voters, especially Latinos, would have new opportunities to elect representatives. In L.A., both African Americans and Latinos could gain political clout.

Quality of life would improve if the Valley became an independent city. L.A. spends a paltry 1% of its budget on housing and economic development programs. Cityhood would allow us to focus resources where needed.

The law ensures that cityhood would not result in financial harm to L.A. This has been confirmed by two independent studies, and L.A. would continue to reap tax revenue from the Valley.

An independent Valley would mean enhanced community decision-making, greater accountability and an improved quality of life--for the Valley and the city of L.A.