Let’s Get Serious About Secession

Re “Leader of Breakaway Bid Has a Hollywood Flair,” June 5: What a wake-up call, reading about Gene La Pietra and the Hollywood secession movement. It is now painfully obvious that The Times is in the pocket of City Hall in its anti-secession perspective.

How about discussing the issues of secession as opposed to highlighting the private life of a highly motivated, dedicated and inspiring humanitarian like La Pietra? It’s so tiresome being served up a daily dose of selective news based on the agenda of City Hall and its anti-secession advocates.

How about sticking to the salient issues and not retreating into coloring all the good intentions of a well-meaning individual? It is glaringly obvious to anyone who has lived or worked in Hollywood since 1962 (as I have) that the city has been neglected. Ask anyone who lives and/or works there. Having started out with no opinion regarding secession, I am now a rabid secessionist--thanks to all the issues raised by its chief advocate, La Pietra. More power to him and to the citizens of Hollywood.

Eva Andry

Hollywood

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Only a few days after a Times reporter described the shallow newspaper coverage of Valley secession (May 31, June 1) we now have Steve Lopez’s June 5 column as an example of a continuing problem (“You Wanna Start Your Own City? Goodbye and Good Luck”). Lopez makes fun of Mayor James Hahn for visiting a small “One L.A.” rally in the Valley.

Lopez also states sarcastically that “it’s time to cut the Valley loose.” Rather, it might be more helpful to say “goodbye and good luck” to Lopez and hire a columnist who thinks it is more important to analyze the divisive issues in our city than it is to be flippant.

Penelope Saltsburg

Encino