Secession May Leave Hilly Area Isolated

In what’s been described as an “unintended consequence” of the secession movement, an expanse of hillsides and canyons above Hollywood, home to about 20,000 people, may be virtually cut off from the rest of Los Angeles if the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood secede from the city.

The odd situation has produced, at least in this corner of Los Angeles, a lot of believers in what the 17th-century author John Donne once sermonized: “No man is an island.”

The area is bounded by the cities of West Hollywood and Beverly Hills to the south and west.

If the two secession movements succeed, the area of mostly opulent homes will be cut off on the north and the east from the city agencies that serve the area. Among them are the Los Angeles Police Department’s Hollywood Division, and the Los Angeles Fire Department, which has stations in Hollywood’s core and near Mulholland Drive in the mountains.

The area’s only physical connection to the city would be through the rugged Santa Monica Mountains to the west.

Word of the possible secession fallout is slowly spreading in the hills and canyons.

“There hasn’t been much talk about it, but we’re acutely aware of it because of the isolation of this area,” said attorney Daniel Clivner, a board member of the Sunset Doheny Homes Assn., a residents group above the Sunset Strip. Clivner offers an arresting visual image for how the area could be flanked by two new cities:

“[Secession] won’t be very good for us because we would be a hamburger with a bun.”

Adds Kim Sudhalter, a Hollywood publicist who has lived in Laurel Canyon for five years: “We don’t want to be an island. We need adequate access to city services, including police and fire. We had a fire here last year, and it could have been very bad. But because of a speedy response by the L.A. Fire Department, it was contained quickly.”

The scenario of being walled off from the rest of Los Angeles has raised a series of questions, for which city officials and others involved in secession acknowledge they currently don’t have definitive answers.

Chief among them: whether a portion of a city legally can be separated from the rest of it because of secession.

Under state law, a municipality must have a contiguous boundary with territory it wants to annex. Gone are the days when cities, such as San Diego, drew imaginary lines to annex territory physically separated from them. In the early 1960s, city officials drew a boundary line under San Diego Bay to the border community of San Ysidro, nearly 20 miles from downtown San Diego, in order to annex it.

But that law concerns annexation, not incorporating a new city. In this case, officials say, there’s nothing--apparently--to prevent the creation of an enclave of one city by the formation of a new city through secession.

Officials at the Local Agency Formation Commission of Los Angeles County, which is in charge of setting the terms, conditions and boundaries for new cities, say they are aware of the possibility that an isolated pocket of L.A. could be created if secessionists succeed.

LAFCO Executive Officer Larry Calemine points out that the situation could have been avoided easily if, for example, Hollywood secession proponents had sought to include the area within the new city.

“The people who circulated the [secession petitions] can draw the boundaries any way they see it,” Calemine said.

But those efforts were rebuffed by some in the area.

“I’m a pro-L.A. person,” said Cassandra Barrere, president of the Laurel Canyon Assn., which counts among its members the residents of about 500 homes. “I’m a native. I think about it as an entire city. For me, [secession] is just a time-consuming political machination.”

LAFCO hasn’t acted on the “island” possibility because its main focus has been to analyze whether secession proposals for the Valley, Hollywood and the harbor area are viable and will be placed on an election ballot.

But some residents in the hills are worried, and unhappy.

“People have been talking about Valley secession for decades,” said attorney Paul Titcher, who lives above the Sunset Strip. “The Hollywood proposal came from out of nowhere and surprised a lot of people. As it turns out, secession by the Valley and Hollywood would have a tremendously drastic effect on the safety of our neighborhood and our quality of life.”

Phyllis Denny, a leader in the Sunset Doheny group, echoes that view, adding that many people probably aren’t aware of what might happen if secession prevails.

“I think most people are apathetic,” said Denny, who moved into the area 41 years ago.

In recent weeks, Los Angeles City Councilman Jack Weiss, who represents the area, reported that his office is beginning to hear concerns from nervous residents.

The first-term lawmaker, who is an ardent secession opponent, says the possible formation of an isolated enclave demonstrates that secession may have impacts no one can anticipate.

“You could argue that people in this area are fortunate to see and understand the impact of secession on their lives. Most people through the city have no way of knowing the unintended consequences of secession.”

Weiss’ staff and other officials are trying to figure out how to ensure the continuation of municipal services in the affected area.

For example, if both Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley break away, which LAPD division would provide police protection?

Weiss says it’s unclear whether the Hollywood Division can continue to serve the enclave if Hollywood becomes a separate city.

“People are justifiably worried about it,” the lawmaker says. “Maybe the rest of us can look at this as a cautionary tale of what secession means for the whole city.”

Others take another view.

Calemine says it’s not unusual for law-enforcement units in one city to cross through another city to respond to an emergency in their jurisdiction. “It happens all the time,” he says.