By Kevin Williams
On July 15, Councilman Jack Weiss had a Viewpoint piece
published in the Daily Bruin in which he attempted to convince the
UCLA community of the evils of the Valley/Hollywood secession
movement with misinformation and semantic dribble. As a resident of
the Valley, I would like to set these facts straight and provide a
balanced view of the issue that was clearly missing in the July 15
front-page article and Weiss’ Viewpoint piece.
Weiss first claims the creation of the new cities would mean
city services (police, fire, etc.) would be contracted from Los
Angeles to the new cities. While it is true that during the
transition process (a period projected to be 18 months), the Valley
city would contract Los Angeles for some services, the new city
will be empowered to create its own police and fire departments, at
which time those contracted services would no longer be needed.
Weiss also suggests the secession would create new bureaucracy.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The new city would have
far less bureaucracy, and the city council would be far more
accountable with each councilman representing fewer than 100,000
people (as opposed to 250,000 per councilman in Los Angeles).
As for the “valimony” Weiss claims would cause the
new city to raise taxes or reduce services, it shouldn’t be a
problem. We in the Valley are used to the leeching. But at least
this leeching will be incrementally reduced and eventually
eliminated. In fact, as the Valley is freed from Los Angeles,
residents can expect lower taxes and improved services.
There are 87 independent cities surrounding Los Angeles (think
Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena) and almost all of them have lower
taxes and fees as well as improved services.
Weiss says he understands the frustrations of those who lead the
secession movement, but I very much doubt he does. Weiss touts the
fact that he has increased police patrols in Beverlywood to prevent
hate crimes. What he doesn’t realize is the resources he is
spending in Los Angeles have been taken from the Valley. There are
almost twice as many police patrolling “greater” Los
Angeles than in the Valley, despite the fact that the Valley makes
up about half the population of Los Angeles (1.2 police per 1000
residence in the Valley as opposed to 2 police per 1000 for the
rest of Los Angeles). This is why violent crimes have recently
begun to rise in the Valley. The thinly stretched LAPD is thinnest
in the Valley. The Valley has also been consistently short changed
in road repair and the placement of libraries and other city
facilities.
And there is no evidence any of this will change. The Valley has
been systematically denied equal and fair representation. The city
council districts have been drawn to fragment the Valley and
minimize the number of council seats accountable to its
interests.
Councilman Weiss is a perfect example of this. His district
edges into the Valley, but Valley residents don’t make up
enough of his constituency that he has to listen to their cries for
more police or street repairs. The mayor has done his part to deny
the Valley fair representation by appointing fewer city
commissioners that come from the Valley.
So why is Councilman Weiss so opposed to the creation of a
Valley city? According to the Local Agency Formation Commission,
the state controller agency overseeing city planning, the new city
is perfectly viable and would not lead to increased taxes. I think
Weiss’ concern is not for the city, but for his paycheck.
Weiss and the other city council members, who were already the
highest paid city council in the nation, voted themselves a raise
this year. Weiss was looking forward to moving up from $133,000 per
year to $139,000 per year. And it may be that without leeching
money from the Valley, the city council won’t be able to
afford this raise.
This is the real reason why the Valley and Hollywood should
secede. We need to send a message to these bureaucrats that it is
no longer acceptable for them to cheat the public for their own
benefit while thwarting the will of the people. It is for this
reason we should vote and send a message to our city
government.