CITY PANEL BACKS VOTE ON BOROUGHS GREUEL-HAHN PLAN COULD COMPETE WITH SECESSION.

Byline: Mariel Garza Staff Writer

A Los Angeles city panel unanimously agreed Tuesday to recommend putting a borough system of municipal government on the November ballot.

The City Council's Education and Neighborhoods Committee made the recommendation to the full council, which could consider the matter as soon as Friday. The council has until July 17 to put the issue on the Nov. 5 ballot.

The proposal, developed by Councilwomen Wendy Greuel and Janice Hahn, would set up a commission of 21 citizens by mid-August to oversee borough proposals and would place a measure on the ballot to amend the City Charter to include a borough system.

If city voters approve the measure, it will require the citizens commission to come up with a detailed plan to submit to voters in the May 2003 election.

Richard Close, chairman of Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment, criticized the Greuel-Hahn plan, saying it contains a loophole that allows the City Council to gut any proposal the commission drafts.

``It appears the City Council can rewrite whatever the commission comes up with,'' Close said. ``So even if it's a meaningful commission and a meaningful proposal, the City Council has final say.''

Mayor James Hahn could also veto any commission proposal.

While Close likes a detailed boroughs plan proposed by Assemblyman Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, he opposes attempts to put any borough plan on the November ballot because it would interfere with the secession vote. Close said he would rather see boroughs placed on a future ballot for both a new Valley city and the remaining Los Angeles.

``I really believe in boroughs,'' said Janice Hahn, the mayor's sister and the chairwoman of the council panel. She pointed out that the City Charter had language allowing boroughs up until the 1970s.

She also assured members of the city's new system of advisory neighborhood councils that any borough system created would not quash their role.

``It will be difficult for me to sign off on a borough system unless I'm convinced that neighborhood councils truly will be more empowered,'' Hahn said, ``because I don't want to do anything that diminishes their power.''