CITYHOOD THREATENS ONLY DEVELOPERS, PALS FREE VALLEY COULD NOT BE FORCED TO SUBSIDIZE BILLIONAIRES' SKYBOXES.

Byline: Kimit Muston Local View

I always listen when politicians start warning of Armageddon and disasters of ``biblical proportions,'' because when they use language like that you know you've hit a nerve.

Particularly since the subject at hand, Valley secession, doesn't seem all that doomsday to me. Should you call 911 the day after Valley independence, the same police and fire departments will respond. Electricity and water will still flow into your house. When you flush, it will end up in the same place it did before. And you will pay the same rates for those services that you do today.

All the laws and regulations of Los Angeles, except for those that refer to government, will remain in effect. All of the laws of California - such as Proposition 13 - and the federal government will still apply, including the state and federal codes that protect city employees and their rights, union status and contracts.

All of this is specifically guaranteed in the Resolution of the Local Agency Formation Commission on Reorganization that will be on November's ballot. Anybody who tells you otherwise is lying to scare you.

There are organizations and individuals who honestly claim they have heard no good argument for Valley independence. They point to the $128 million in alimony we will have to pay Los Angeles. But we can afford it. Revenues of a Valley city will be about $1 billion a year. And free from Los Angeles City Hall, we'll still save money.

The alimony payments drop 5 percent per year, adjusted for inflation. So the second year our payment will be $121.6 million; the fourth year, $108.8 million. Ten years after independence, we will pay L.A. just $64 million, and 21 years from independence day, not one thin dime.

The shrinking alimony payments will give Los Angeles a chance to detox and wean itself from the fat arrogant bureaucracy that now runs City Hall. Fifteen council members of a smaller city ought finally to be able to get a handle on things over there.

Meanwhile, we will contract for services from the old city, but now we will set the budgets. We will be able to say that we want more police and that we're willing to pay for them.

If Parker Center cannot or will not fulfill our request, we can contract with the Sheriff's Department, which - its officials have said - can supply the same number of officers for 60 percent of what Parker Center currently charges us, or we can form our own police force. The choice will be ours.

Anybody who doesn't recognize that as a pretty good argument for Valley independence just isn't listening.

The prophets of doom like to claim that secession will cost the Valley improvements and new construction of police and fire stations and parks. That is also not true.

The LAFCO report specifically ensures the Valley will get its share of Propositions K, Q and F bond money - which we can spend now, not five years from now when the L.A. City Hall crowd finally gets around to it.

So where's the doom? I don't see it. Unless, of course, you remember that Armageddon is also Judgment Day.

The LAFCO report repeatedly says the Valley city ``shall have audit rights'' to ensure that L.A. treats us fairly. In other words, the City Hall books will be laid opened for view by people the City Hall crowd can't control. Taxpayers on both sides of the hill will finally see just how their money is actually spent.

Seen from that viewpoint, I guess Valley independence is Armageddon for those prophets of doom who run City Hall. Just how ``biblical'' would that financial disaster be for City Hall?

Take one example: The City Council just fast-tracked yet another redevelopment plan for downtown, pledging $1.7 billion in taxpayer-financed subsidies to support yet another group of billionaire developers who have promised to fix the mess that the last bunch of billionaire developers left behind.

An independent auditor would just gum up the works, asking too many questions, giving the fine print too fine a reading and maybe pointing out that we've heard these promises before and asking: Isn't it odd that the developers want to improve housing for the homeless by building a new football stadium?

The council vote to fast-track this deal was 11-3, and the three were from the Valley. But at least now we know where some of our alimony is going to go: subsidies for corporate skyboxes. Sometimes I think it may take the end of the world to change things at City Hall.