West Valley Not Swept Up in Tide Against Secession

Megan Luck, a young mother wheeling a stroller through her West Hills neighborhood, has had enough of Los Angeles.

It doesn’t matter to her that the feeling isn’t mutual, as is evident in a new Los Angeles Times poll on secession. She wants her toddler son to grow up in a Valley city, sheltered from the crime and grime of the urban core. Even if Los Angeles voters reject Valley cityhood next month, Luck vowed to continue pushing for independence.

“I’ll keep doing it until we’re separate,” she said. “L.A. has too many of its own problems. We shouldn’t have to bother with them.”

Such expressions of determination and defiance were common on the leafy streets of the West Valley on Wednesday, as voters digested the findings of the poll. The survey showed support for the Hollywood and Valley cityhood measures on the Nov. 5 ballot is eroding, even in the Valley.

Only the West Valley is bucking the anti-secession tide that has swept from the Westside to South-Central to the East Valley, according to the poll of 970 likely voters.

But even here, among the cul-de-sacs and tidy lawns where the cityhood movement was born, the battle over secession is too close to call.

The poll found that 46% of likely voters in the West Valley favor secession, while 42% oppose a breakup, a gap within the poll’s margin of error. Across the San Diego Freeway in the East Valley, an area with more Latinos, Democrats and poorer residents, opposition outweighs support 54% to 36%.

Likely voters citywide oppose Valley secession by a 2-1 margin. They are also overwhelmingly against Hollywood independence, 60% to 21%.

In the East Valley, some residents said they were not surprised by the poll’s findings, which reflected their views on secession.

At the Eagle Cafe in the North Hollywood arts district, Christopher Guckenberger thumbed through the newspaper as he ate a breakfast burrito. He said he’s leaning against Valley cityhood because he doesn’t believe secessionists have a detailed plan for the new city.

“For us to be able to do it, we really have to make sure we’re strong on our feet,” he said.

“If it’s losing support in the Valley, that does make me wonder. If everybody isn’t going to support it, then it’s not going to work.”

A few miles away in Studio City, Mariel Sloatman and her husband, Vincent Eads, agreed that breaking off from Los Angeles was not a wise idea.

Sloatman said that initially she was intrigued by the notion of cityhood. But once she learned secession would have no effect on the troubled Los Angeles Unified School District, she decided to oppose it.

“To pass it would enhance people’s feelings that the Valley is different, when in fact we’re not,” Eads added. “We’re just one big melting pot.”

Diane Sherlock, a Studio City novelist, said she was already leaning against a breakup when she got her sample ballot in the mail. Sherlock said her mind was made up when she saw the list of political novices seeking seats in the proposed Valley city.

“I didn’t recognize any of the names,” she said.

To win, secession must claim a majority of voters both citywide and in the proposed breakaway area.

Enthusiasm for the idea has never been strong citywide. That has left Mayor James K. Hahn’s $5-million L.A. United campaign and other opponents of secession to increasingly focus their efforts on the Valley.

Hahn’s campaign has homed in on Valley senior citizens, renters, Latinos and union members with messages tailored to each group warning about secession’s uncertainties.

The poll findings suggest the strategy is paying off. In the Valley, support for secession has dropped among the elderly, Latinos and less-affluent voters.

Ana Soriano, who moved to Pacoima 27 years ago from El Salvador, said she fears a new Valley city would later split into smaller cities, abandoning the area’s low-income residents and segregating communities based on race.

“Secessionists don’t have an interest in the northeast Valley,” Soriano said. “They have an interest in themselves. I don’t trust them to have control of the resources.”

Secessionists have denounced the mayor’s approach as “fear-mongering,” and several breakaway backers voiced bitterness Wednesday over the wave of anti-secession phone calls, mailers and television ads.

“The more money you have, the more power you have,” said secession backer Mary Margaret Finnan, a manager at Gilbert Costumes in North Hollywood.

“They’ve got people on the phone, they’ve got people in grocery stores handing out fliers, they’ve got people out there speaking Spanish,” said Finnan, who lives in Van Nuys. “It’s all about communication.”

Valley secession leaders said Wednesday that they were not discouraged by the Times poll results, saying other surveys showed more support for the breakaway measure.

“We have the anti-secession campaign right where we want them, cocky and overconfident,” said Carlos Ferreyra, co-chairman of the Valley Independence Committee. He said the campaign recently began airing television commercials on Valley cable systems.

Hollywood separatists insisted Wednesday a breakup has widespread support in Hollywood. “People understand that Hollywood has been abandoned to drug dealers, gangs and the prostitution business,” the Hollywood Independence Committee said in a statement.

At City Hall, Councilman Dennis Zine and others countered that public opinion has turned against secession.

“I am very pleased that the people are finally realizing that the quick fix of secession is not the answer,” said Zine, who lives in West Hills.

Earlier this week, Hahn said if secession fails he will seek legislation to prevent another vote on the matter in the near future.

“This thing is enormously expensive for taxpayers,” said Hahn, who put the cost of studying secession at more than $3 million. “We ought to have some reasonable interval before another effort is allowed.”

His remarks sparked angry criticism Wednesday from secession leaders. At a Granada Hills news conference, separatists castigated Hahn for suggesting new laws to block secession.

“He’s really thwarting the democratic process,” Robert Lamishaw, a Valley city council candidate, said.

Former Assemblywoman Paula Boland, who is also running for a council seat, said her phone has been “ringing off the hook” with calls from people outraged by Hahn’s remarks.

“This will be the battle cry of all people in the Valley,” Boland said. “It’s not a matter of win or lose on this.”

Even if voters reject secession, some supporters -- particularly in the West Valley -- said they would back another breakaway movement.

Joseph Baker, a 72-year-old West Hills homeowner with a “Mel Wilson for Mayor” sign on his front lawn, said Valley cityhood would wipe away the crime and graffiti staining the area.

“It didn’t use to be this way,” said Baker, who has lived in the Valley for 45 years. “I will absolutely support secession again. I am not living in a cocoon. I know what’s going on. The Valley pays too much in taxes. We don’t need the power-hungry people downtown.”

Rosie Gutierrez, a renter who lives in a cramped Canoga Park apartment complex, said the cityhood movement has boosted the Valley’s fortunes -- even though she doubts secession will pass.

“It’s getting downtown to pay more attention to us,” she said. “I’m tired of the Valley being ignored.”

Times staff writers Patrick McGreevy and Caitlin Liu contributed to this report.