Page 2 - lw3104

REVOLT OF THE BALKANS

THE MOVE TO SECEDE

FROM LOS ANGELES COUNTY

rrFor most of our citizens, local government is the first test by which
our civilization is judged." - Public Commission
on County Government, Los Angeles, February 1976

By Boa SIMMONS
In the rough and folksy bars of Saugus they argue about Cadillac when a Volkswagen will do." Until two years ago
the new county. Between rounds of beer and eight-ball, this would have been idle chatter. There had not been a
lean men in faded Levi's wonder if their taxes will go up, if new county formed since Imperial County in 1907. The
fire and flood protection will go down. A few miles away, in barriers to secession were enormous. But new legislation
the Sunset Magazine living rooms of Valencia, the ques- in 1974 made new county formation much easier. When 25
tions are different but the issue is the same. Members of the percent of the voters in the proposed county have signed
League of Women Voters ponder the ethics of pulling a petitions to separate from their existing county, the for-
white, middle-class suburb out of a county which last year mation is underway. The voters of the existing county can
provided welfare assistance to 742,000 people and needs all block it, but the supervisors cannot. The petition phase
the resources it can gather. happened rapidly in northwest Los Angeles County, and
The Canyon County Formation Committee wants to similar actions are now threatened in the eastern, south-
separate 66,000 people and 735 square miles from Los ern and western reaches of the county to split off more
Angeles County. The northwest corner of the existing densely populated, higher-priced chunks.
county would break off to become Canyon County, which The Canyon County signatures have been certified and
would include the unincorporated communities of Saugus, sent to Governor Brown. Now the Governor must appoint
Newhall, Valencia, Canyon Country, Acton and Gorman, a County Formation Review Commission - two residents
plus thousands of acres of sparsely settled range- and from the proposed new county, two from the remainder of
prime-development land along the Santa Clara River. That Los Angeles County and one from another county. The
corner of Los Angeles County is connected with the county commission would decide who would owe how much to
seat by 50 miles of freeway and is separated by row on row whom for county property that would have to be ex-
of mountains and canyons, and years of mutual disinterest. changed. It would estimate the financial impact of the
"People downtown don't know where the Santa Clarita Val- separation on the old as well as the new county and of-
ley is," says Don Hon, Newhall attorney and co-chairman of ficially certify the boundaries. Once that's done the Los
the Canyon County drive. "People in this valley don't give a Angeles County Supervisors must call an election to de~
damn what goes on downtown. Why should we be tied to- cide the fate of the new county. If the separation is ap-
gether? We're sick and tired of driving a hundred miles proved by a majority in the overall existing county as w~ll
round trip to attend a Planning Commission hearing, to as in the proposed new one, 91 days later Canyon will
appeal an assessment or complete a building permit." become California's 59th county. Canyon forces have been
waiting iinpatiently for word from the Governor. He has
The budget blues until May 1 to appoint the commission and there has been
Los Angeles County's chief administrative officer, Harry no indication he will do it before that deadline.
Hufford, thinks Los Angeles County can get along without
its northwest corner, but he doesn't see how the proposed South Bay, San Gabriel and Las Virgenes
new county can make it on its own. Canyon County would Meanwhile, separation petitions are circulating in
reduce L.A. County by only about one percent of its popula- Torrance and the beach cities of El Segundo, Redondo
tion and one percent of its tax base. Hufford says L.A. Beach, Manhattan Beach, 'Hermosa Beach, Rolling Hills
County expenditures would decrease by $23 million, but and Palos Verdes for a new entity to be called South Bay
the new county's budget, he estimates, would have to ex- County. It would take about six percent of the population
ceed $33 million. and six percent of the tax base from Los Angeles County.
"That's ridiculous," scoffs Hon. "He's assuming we A committee of San Gabriel Valley officials headed by
would continue the same wasteful, inefficient, overspend- Mayor Louis Gilbertson of Temple City is pondering the
ing ways L.A. County's famous for. They always buy a potential of a new County of San Gabriel. The loss of its 27
cities would remove about 13 percent of the existing Los
The author, a reporter for KNXT-T V in Los Angeles, Angeles County tax base. Dissidents in the western end of
wrote "Why the state hasn't cleared the air" in the October Los Angeles County keep raising the possibility of a Las
1973 Journal. Virgenes County. One version would include the beach

APRIL 1976 117