Report Bolsters Bid to Secede

Hollywood would be financially healthy if it split off from Los Angeles, a state agency said Wednesday, greatly increasing the likelihood that a secession proposal for the area will make the November ballot.

If that happens, Los Angeles voters could face three secession plans at the same time--for Hollywood, the harbor area and the San Fernando Valley. Such a combination, secession proponents say, would improve the prospects for all three.

The report released Wednesday by the Local Agency Formation Commission envisions an independent Tinseltown, population 185,000 to 200,000, that would stretch from the Hollywood Hills to Melrose Avenue. Thanks in large part to tourism, a five-member Hollywood city council would have a budget of $176 million, with a surplus of $6 million after four years, according to the report.

A Hollywood city would contract with Los Angeles for services during a multiyear transition period, just as a Valley city and harbor city would.

LAFCO reviews incorporation proposals and decides whether to present them to the voters. The commission has given every indication it will put the Valley, harbor and Hollywood plans on the November ballot, if at all possible.

To win, each proposal would have to carry a majority of votes within the breakaway region and citywide. Secessionists had to collect the signatures of 25% of registered voters within the regions to submit the proposals to LAFCO.

Combined, the secession areas account for nearly half the city’s population of 3.7 million. The Valley alone is home to 1.4 million. The harbor area’s population is 161,000.

“Having all three of them on the ballot would give it a better shot, since it requires a majority vote in both jurisdictions,� said Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who sits on the LAFCO board and represents parts of Hollywood and the Valley.

Mayor James K. Hahn, City Council members and municipal labor unions plan to mount an aggressive campaign against secession. Hahn said he intends to raise $5 million for the fight.

“It would be bad for L.A. to lose any part of the city, whether it be Hollywood, Boyle Heights or San Pedro,� Deputy Mayor Matt Middlebrook said Wednesday. “But the mayor is confident that Hollywood will remain a part of Los Angeles for a long, long time. Los Angeles provides great services to all these communities.�

The Hollywood breakaway drive has had a lower profile than the other divorce campaigns. But supporters said the LAFCO report will give their efforts a big lift.

“This is really a first,� said Gene La Pietra, a Hollywood nightclub and cafe owner who has spearheaded the campaign. “It’s a revolution without guns. It’s the process at it’s very best.�

La Pietra, who owns the Circus Disco and Arena Cafe on Santa Monica Boulevard at Highland Avenue, spent $125,000 to fund the LAFCO report. He also headed the effort that gathered 45,000 signatures to put the proposal on the ballot.

Ferris Wehbe, a secession booster who donated $5,000 to the cause, said that, like the movements in the San Fernando Valley and harbor area, Hollywood secession is rooted in a frustration with the quality of city services.

‘Los Angeles Is Not Doing Its Job’

“Hollywood is going to be an independent city,� Wehbe said. “Not because we are so smart and wonderful, but because the city of Los Angeles is not doing its job.�

On the streets of Hollywood, residents seemed to like the idea. They said secession might improve Hollywood’s police and social services, ease its parking crunch and reinforce its singular identity.

“Hollywood ... is its own entity,� said Wendy Rose, who moved to Hollywood last month from Bakersfield and supports secession. “It’s its own place. It exists with or without the rest of the world.�

But Kerry Slattery, who lives in Silver Lake and manages a bookstore in Los Feliz, said she opposed secession.

“We should be encouraging and celebrating diversity, but we should also be sharing our strengths to make the city of Los Angeles better,� Slattery said.

The state report stopped short of a complete endorsement of Hollywood cityhood.

LAFCO consultants said a new city would need to pay Los Angeles $11 million per year for revenue that L.A. would lose as a result of the secession.

If its boundaries are those suggested Wednesday, Hollywood would also need to cut services by about $10 million each year for the first three years, to make up for a loss in tax revenue and to build reserves.

Its city council members would be elected at-large, and it would have a city manager, city clerk and city controller.

In the beginning, the city would lease police, fire and other essential services from Los Angeles, but secession advocates have said that they would probably contract with the county Sheriff’s Department for law enforcement after the transition period.

Garcetti Says Hollywood Ungrateful for Past Help

Los Angeles City Councilman Eric Garcetti, whose district includes Hollywood, said secession advocates took the city’s largess when the area was down-and-out and want to leave now that the area is doing well.

“It’s like, ‘Thanks for the help, now, goodbye,’� Garcetti said.

Councilman Tom La Bonge, who represents Los Feliz and much of the eastern end of Hollywood, said the city has to work harder to convince Hollywood voters that Los Angeles can meet their needs.

“There’s a lesson in this for the city,� La Bonge said. “You’ve always got to listen to the people, and you’ve always got to improve. It’s like a marriage--you’ve always got to work to make it better.�

La Bonge also said Hollywood has something of its identity to lose if it leaves Los Angeles.

“I love this city as a whole, from Chatsworth to San Pedro and from Boyle Heights to Venice,� the councilman said. “The Hollywood sign is in Griffith Park, and Griffith Park is in Los Angeles.

“They’re not going to get the Hollywood sign.�

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Times staff writers Manuel Gamiz, Sandra Murillo and George Ramos contributed to this report.