CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES
It’s not exactly a new San Fernando Valley secession movement, but residents of a small area of Van Nuys are petitioning Los Angeles officials to redraw their neighborhood boundaries so they can become part of the tonier community of Sherman Oaks.
The area is bounded by Sepulveda, Oxnard and Burbank boulevards and Hazeltine Avenue. It contains 1,800 homes and nearly 5,000 residents.
Advocates of the change -- their group is known simply as “Part of Sherman Oaks” -- argue that they should merge with the neighboring community because they are physically separated from Van Nuys by an industrial strip and the Orange Line busway.
They point out that their children attend Sherman Oaks schools and that they shop at Sherman Oaks businesses and are represented by the same City Council member -- Wendy Greuel -- as other Sherman Oaks residents.
They were scheduled to pose for a group picture and sell lawn signs Sunday.
Valley secessionists made an unsuccessful bid in 2002 to break from Los Angeles to form their own city.
-- Seema Mehta
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