BOROUGHS SYSTEM MUST BE 3RD OPTION FOR L.A.'S VOTERS.

Byline: Wendy Greuel and Janice Hahn 

THE City Council will vote today on whether to give Los Angeles residents an alternative to secession that keeps the city together and mandates the empowers neighborhoods with real decision-making authority through a borough system.

Voters deserve the right to choose how best to improve Los Angeles and its government - and we will fight to convince our council colleagues to give voters that choice.

As two of the City Council's newest members, we have proposed a responsible and realistic plan to transfer power to the local level through a system of community boroughs. If the voters approve the ballot measure in November, a detailed plan drafted by an independent commission will come back to the voters for final approval in May 2003.

Putting a borough proposal on the ballot will allow the voters to mandate that the city and the commission develop and implement a borough system that gives local neighborhoods control over budgeting, land use and service delivery.

We are fighting to give the voters a choice that makes sense.

Currently, voters have two options in November: (1) vote to break the city apart or (2) vote to maintain the status quo.

We are not satisfied with these options. Supporters and opponents of secession agree that charter reform did not go far enough in reforming city government.

If secession fails in November, as early indicators suggest, we could still have 30-40 percent of voters citywide and 40-50 percent of voters in the San Fernando Valley so dissatisfied with their government that they are willing to vote for municipal divorce.

If we fail to give the people an opportunity to bind the city to reform in November, we will likely wake up the day after the election with nothing but dissatisfied voters left with the status quo.

Skeptics, including some of our council colleagues, have argued that placing a borough plan on the November ballot will confuse voters. This assertion badly underestimates the intelligence and sophistication of the people of Los Angeles.

Voters understand that a vote for secession will split the city in two or more parts and a vote against secession, absent any alternatives, will maintain the status quo.

Boroughs, however, will allow voters to keep the city together while making it better.

City Council President Alex Padilla has proposed a competing measure that the council will also consider today.

Padilla's proposal precludes the council from placing any borough proposal on the November ballot. Instead, it establishes a commission to ``review, study, evaluate, analyze and research city governance issues.''

The Padilla commission's charge lacks focus, direction and time line. The proposal provides absolutely no guarantee that it will produce even one substantive reform of city government. Prohibiting the voters from considering a borough measure in November would rob the residents of the Valley, the Harbor and all of Los Angeles of a genuine opportunity for positive and binding reform.

The council's reluctance to allow a vote on the borough plan underscores the need for a democratic, voter-driven approach for structural reform. We are serious about reform. We are not afraid of constructive change.

Our council colleagues should give the voters the chance to mandate reform. Let's put the power in the hands of the voters by giving them a real alternative in November. Council members, give voters a choice. Put boroughs on the ballot.