BEHIND THE NEWS: SUPPORT FOR VALLEY SECESSION DISCOVERED; IT'S ABOUT TIME(S).

THE front-page headline Wednesday said this:

60% of Valley Voters Favor City Secession 

No, you didn't read that headline in the Daily News on Wednesday.

It was on the front page of the Los Angeles Times, whose readers must have been as surprised as the newspaper's editors to find such a little-noticed movement has such strong support.

Normally, the Daily News doesn't publish the results of Times surveys but this one could not be ignored.

The secession movement was little noticed, at least in the pages of the Times, until the recent certification of secession study petitions signed by fully 25 percent of Valley voters.

In discovering the movement, the Times has mostly spotlighted Los Angeles officials who claim the Valley will dry up (without L.A.'s water) and wither away if goes ahead and becomes a city.

No need to wait for the study for the facts, the Times has made its mind and repeatedly editorialized: secession is bad, supporters are zealots, motives are questionable.

Today, the Daily News prints an account of the Times survey, made available to newspapers and broadcasters by The Associated Press, because the poll so clearly validates what nearly everyone in the Valley has known for a long time.

For the record, the Daily News has aggressively covered the Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment secession study movement but has not yet taken an editorial position on actual secession. (We'll wait for the results of the study.)

In its editorials, the newspaper has strongly supported the right of Valley residents to petition its government for the study. And corporately, the newspaper's owner contributed thousands of dollars to help collect petitions to trigger the study, after the petition gatherers were stymied by the bureaucrats at every turn.

While the Daily News has not yet taken any formal polls on secession, it has asked an assortment of questions through its daily Daily News Line, where readers call in their opinions. Those results: On March 17, 1998, the Daily News asked this: Would you vote for San Fernando Valley cityhood now? There were 1,023 responses to the nonscientific survey, with 88 percent saying ``yes'' and 12 percent voting ``no''.

Questions asked since then have focused mostly on the study process, with callers consistently supporting the study moving forward and its expense being covered by various governments.

Following is AP's story on the results of the Times survey:

The San Fernando Valley strongly supports secession while the rest of the city is divided on the split, according to a poll published Wednesday.

The Valley's secessionist sentiment was strong despite general satisfaction with life, economy and leadership of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times Poll found.

If the Valley became a separate municipality, Los Angeles would fall from its rank as the nation's second-largest city to No. 3, behind Chicago.

An official study of whether a breakup would cause harm to either entity has yet to be done. Backers of the split hope to have the issue on a 2002 ballot.

The poll of 1,221 city residents was conducted March 20-27. Of those polled, 854 were registered voters. The poll had a margin of sampling error of 3 percentage points.

Of Valley voters polled 60 percent supported forming their own city, 30 percent opposed secession and 10 percent were undecided. Forty-three percent of voters living outside the Valley opposed secession and 39 percent favored it.

Secession would require approval of Valley residents and those of the city as a whole.

Citywide, 47 percent of voters supported secession, 39 percent opposed it and 14 percent were undecided.

Despite the support for secession, the poll revealed growing confidence in Los Angeles.

More than half of residents polled citywide said the city is ``going in the right direction.'' In 1994, just 22 percent of residents would say the same thing.

The new poll showed an overwhelming 80 percent believe the economy is doing well, compared to 14 percent who believe it's going badly.

Eighty-two percent said their neighborhoods were doing well and 70 percent said their personal finances were secure or fairly secure. Twenty-nine percent said their finances were shaky.

Mayor Richard Riordan, an opponent of secession, was found to be well-liked citywide and especially in the Valley. His job performance received approval from 57 percent of those polled. The mayor is entering the final two years of his second term.

Police Chief Bernard C. Parks was viewed approvingly by 47 percent of those polled. Just 10 percent disapproved of his performance. Many had not yet formed an opinion.

The Police Department's work was approved of by nearly two-thirds of residents citywide, while a quarter were disapproving and the rest were undecided.

In the Valley, 74 percent approved of the Police Department's work and 17 percent disapproved.