COUNCIL SPLIT OVER SECESSION : ON 8-6 VOTE, PANEL OPPOSES BOLAND BILL.

Byline: Rick Orlov Daily News Staff Writer

A sharply divided Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to oppose state legislation that would make it easier for the San Fernando Valley and other areas to secede from the city.

In an 8-6 vote - the bare majority required - the council went on record opposing AB 2043, which would take away the City Council's veto power over a secession drive. The bill would apply only to Los Angeles.

The vote largely broke along geographic lines, with most Valley lawmakers voting to support the bill. But two councilmen whose districts include portions of the Valley - John Ferraro and Mike Feuer - voted to oppose AB 2043.

The council majority said the bill was unacceptable unless it is amended to ensure three things: a citywide vote on any secession, that secession would cost Los Angeles nothing, and that the bill would apply to all California cities.

While opposing secession themselves, the council supporters of the legislation by Assemblywoman Paula Boland, R-Granada Hills, said voters in the San Fernando Valley and other areas should have the right to self-determination.

``I have a fundamental problem in denying people the right to choose about their governance,'' said Councilman Richard Alarcon.

``I will vote against (opposing the measure), not because I support the Boland bill, or because I want to break up the city,'' Alarcon said. ``But every action we take to deny the residents of the San Fernando Valley the right to choose their destiny is adding another nail to the coffin.''

Councilman Rudy Svorinich, whose Harbor-area district has long included city secessionists, was the sole council member whose district is completely outside the Valley to support the Boland bill.

``What we are talking about is eight members of this City Council being able to subvert the right of 1.7 million people to have the choice of where their local government should be located,'' Svorinich said. ``That is not democracy in any way, shape or form.

``I don't think this council should tell 1.7 million people of this city that they don't count, that they shouldn't be given a choice, that they're too dumb to make a decision,'' Svorinich said.

Also voting to support the Boland bill were council members Laura Chick, Marvin Braude, Joel Wachs and Hal Bernson. All live in the Valley except for Braude, who lives in Brentwood, but whose district includes the southwest Valley.

Feuer and Ferraro - whose districts include the Valley but who live south of Mulholland Drive - said they opposed the Boland bill on grounds that the Valley and other areas should not be allowed to decide on their own to leave Los Angeles.

``What is going to prevent Woodland Hills from detaching from the San Fernando Valley? Or Granada Hills?'' asked Ferraro, the council president. ``This would permit Bel-Air to break off and put a fence around itself. I don't want to see Toluca Lake, that is in my district, break off.''

Feuer, whose district includes Sherman Oaks, said he understood the Valley's sense of frustration.

``They feel they haven't been provided adequate services and feel remote from City Hall,'' Feuer said. ``But those are frustrations felt throughout the city.

``If we limit the right to so-called self-determination by allowing the Valley to vote by itself, then we are undermining that entitlement of self-determination to every other resident of Los Angeles,'' Feuer said. ``We are an interdependent city. We ought to be focusing on the things that unite us.''

Boland said she would not amend her measure. She said she expected the City Council's opposition, but was surprised the vote was so close.

``We gained some ground,'' Boland said. ``Last week, we thought there would be 10 votes against us.''

In addition to Feuer and Ferraro, council members voting to oppose Boland's bill were Richard Alatorre, Ruth Galanter, Jackie Goldberg, Mike Hernandez, Nate Holden and Mark Ridley-Thomas. Councilwoman Rita Walters was absent.

Goldberg said she agreed with Svorinich that the council should not be able to veto a secession drive. But she said the city's electorate should have the final say.

``To say only the group that wants to split off gets to vote is wrong,'' Goldberg said.

Chick, whose district is entirely in the Valley, said she felt the issue was being promoted by Boland for political considerations. Boland is running for the state Senate in Glendale.

``This whole secession drive is not being driven by the people of the San Fernando Valley, it is not a grass-roots movement,'' Chick said. ``It is being driven by the political ambitions of a candidate.''

Boland has denied this, saying she is simply following through on an old campaign promise.

Chick complained that the issue should not be before the council because of the time and energy it had wasted.

But despite her misgivings about Boland's intentions, Chick said she could not argue with the bill's intention - to give the Valley and other areas the right to self-determination.

Wachs and Braude also said they favored the Boland bill because it gave people the right to decide their future.

Hernandez and Holden argued against the bill, disputing assertions by some that the Valley does not get respect from City Hall.

``The members of the City Council who represent the Valley should be upset with this,'' Holden said. ``I want the people of the Valley to understand that there are no council members who work harder for their district than the Valley council members.''

The city's Sacramento lobbyists already have been working against the bill based on a longstanding council policy to oppose ``attempts to make it easier to detach inhabited areas'' from the city. That lobbying opposition will continue, officials said.

CAPTION(S):

15 photos, box

Photo: How they voted

The Los Angeles City Council

(1) Richard Alarcon NO

(2) Richard Alatorre YES

(3) Hal Bernson NO

(4) Marvin Braude NO

(5) Laura Chick NO

(6) John Ferraro YES

(7) Mike Feuer YES

(8) Ruth Galanter YES

(9) Jackie Goldberg YES

(10) Mike Hernandez YES

(11) Nate Holden YES

(12) Mrak Ridley-Thomas YES

(13) Rudy SvorinichNO

(14) Joel Wachs NO

(15) Rita Walters ABSENT

BOX: How they voted