CITYHOOD FOE'S TALK HITS HOME PADILLA SAYS UNCERTAINTY MAY CUT PROPERTY VALUES.

Byline: Mariel Garza Staff Writer

VAN NUYS - City Council President Alex Padilla told 200 San Fernando Valley Realtors on Thursday that uncertainty over a new Valley city could drive down property values.

During a debate on secession with Richard Katz,who is leading the pro- secession Valley Independence Committee, Padilla said a family friend called him up a few weeks ago and said he had been reading a lot about secession.

``Should I sell my house now?'' the friend asked Padilla.

``If one person is thinking that ... how many people out there are thinking that?'' Padilla told members of the Southland Regional Association of Realtors. ``There's a lot of uncertainty out there, a lot of fear and a lot of concern.''

Katz countered by saying the current low interest rates likely have more influence on home buying than which city the house was in. And the former state assemblyman said a smaller city could better address the needs of residents, give Valley residents more control over local government and improve the quality of life in Valley neighborhoods.

Katz noted that in reaction to the secession movement, the city has been focusing all sorts of attention on the Valley - filling potholes, changing old trash cans and stationing traffic cops on Sepulveda Boulevard.

``If nothing else we're finally getting some of the services we've been paying for all of these years,'' Katz said. ``But they're long overdue and we shouldn't have to threaten to leave to get what we pay for.''

Padilla, whose council district encompasses the Northeast Valley, said that in a new city, taxes would go up, or services would go down, or maybe both - in spite of a Local Agency Formation Commission study that said taxes would not increase and the new city would have enough revenues to continue public services with a 5 percent reserve fund out of its $1.14 billion budget.

Padilla denied Katz's suggestion that the services the Valley is getting might end if secession loses.

``I pledge that all the efforts that you've seen over the last three years will continue and continue to grow after November,'' Padilla said.

Also on Thursday, an anti-secession group of about 50 organizations was announced. The Civic Coalition for a United Los Angeles includes the League of Women Voters, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the NAACP and other groups.

Many of the same groups worked together as the Civic Coalition of Charter Reform. They came back together to fight secession because it's an equally important issue to the city, said Xandra Kayden, coalition coordinator and a former president of the League of Women Voters.

``Our goal is not to attack secession per se, but to make the case of why L.A. should stay together,'' Kayden said. ``We have a different message.''

Coalition members who spoke at a news conference at the Campo de Cahuenga historical site in Studio City said they oppose secession out of concern for the impact on the poor and because the city has worked together in the past to solve problems.

``We've come a long way to bring Los Angeles together,'' said the Rev. Leonard Jackson of First AME Church. ``We've been through a lot of trials and tribulations. We cannot afford to stand by and see secession be a tribulation.''

They said they plan outreach and public education to the 50 groups' constituencies.