Debate Flares as Secession Vote Looms

The two sides in the secession campaign clashed Thursday night in a spirited debate, with supporters of a breakup arguing that Los Angeles is too big and ungainly to serve its residents well, and foes claiming that splitting up the city would carry too many uncertainties.

The debate at the Universal City Hilton was held less than three weeks before voters decide whether the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood should break from Los Angeles and become their own cities.

With a Times poll this week indicating secession is opposed 2-1 by likely voters citywide, Valley cityhood leaders such as Richard Close sought to sharpen their message during the 90-minute debate.

“This is all about services,” said Close. “New York has 40,000 [police] officers for a smaller area. We are not getting the services we pay for.” Los Angeles has about 9,000 officers.

He was joined on the pro-secession side by Valley Independence Committee member Bob Scott and former state Assemblywoman Paula Boland, who is running for council in the proposed Valley city.

“The Valley still feels disenfranchised,” said Boland. Valley residents “feel they can scream at their City Council members and still not be heard.”

The anti-secession side was represented by City Controller Laura Chick and City Council members Cindy Miscikowski and Eric Garcetti. Chick said the city is improving services, and voters should give ongoing reforms such as neighborhood councils a chance.

“There are too many unknowns,” Chick said of secession. “There are not really substantive plans being proposed. Change for change’s sake is not necessarily the best way to go.”

Miscikowski, whose district included a large part of the south Valley before redistricting shifted it to the Westside, said the secession campaign is a “wake-up call for those who were elected last year ... who said, ‘We are going to do things differently.’ ”

“We are seeing better services,” she added.

Garcetti, who represents part of Hollywood, said voters should not be fooled into believing secession would break up the Los Angeles Unified School District. “We are not voting on a breakup of the LAUSD, pure and simple.”

But Close said new cities would have influence in Sacramento that could lead to a split of the school district.

He also predicted that if secession fails in the Nov. 5 election, the city will end its efforts to improve services, and that neighborhood councils will still lack clout.

“When they set up neighborhood councils, they gave them no authority to do anything,” he said.

Close added that if the cityhood measures lose, they will be resurrected in the near future. But the longtime secession backer said a revived campaign would not include him.

“I really don’t have the fire to start over again,” he said.

The debate was organized by the Los Angeles Police Protective League. The police officers union, a leading secession opponent, is running radio commercials that claim a split could jeopardize public safety.

The event drew just 100 people in a ballroom with a capacity for 2,000.

Earlier Thursday, several Valley city council and mayoral candidates said that, if elected, they would support the campaign finance reform system known as “clean money” for the new municipality.

Under such a system, candidates who prove they have grass-roots support receive funding from the city or state, but must not engage in private fund-raising.

Candidates whose opponents do not participate in the voluntary system receive the same amount of money the opponents raise, up to a predetermined cap.

It is an issue close to the hearts of many cityhood supporters, whose campaign has been massively outspent by secession opponents led by Mayor James K. Hahn.

Secession “is our one glorious chance to get clean money in Los Angeles,” said Terry Stone, a candidate for the 10th Valley council district.

Clean money “levels the playing field,” said painting contractor Jerry Hayes.

Also on Thursday, Valley council candidate Frank Sheftel, a candy maker in the 12th District, launched a cable television commercial.

Made with donated labor, the 30-second spot features several Valley candidates and Sheftel’s mother pointing to her son’s campaign signs and asking, “Who the hell is Frank Sheftel?”

Sheftel comes on at the end and introduces himself.