DESIRE TO LEAVE ISN'T NEW 'FAIR SHARE' COMPLAINTS BEGAN ON DAY ONE.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer

Virtually since the day the San Fernando Valley joined the city of Los Angeles in 1915, there has been grumbling from those who wanted out - and there has been resistance from those who ran the city.

``There was talk in the '40s in virtually every corner of the city,'' said Tom Hogen-Esch, a political science professor at California State University, Northridge, who has studied secession movements across the country. ``Specifically, from the Westside, they were complaining about fair share. There were also the same complaints in the Valley.''

Then-Mayor Fletcher Bowron commissioned studies of a borough system that would carve the city into five semiautonomous jurisdictions, but no proposal was ever put before the voters.

In November 1961, Valley activists arranged a tour of the area for the City Council, hoping to discuss their need for better infrastructure and stronger political representation in light of the post-World War II suburban boom. But only two of 15 council members showed up - a snub that so infuriated Valley leaders that they called for a study of the Valley seceding from Los Angeles.

The secession study continued for at least two years, but secessionists eventually realized the legal and political difficulties facing them. And with the Valley's own Sam Yorty as mayor, trying to improve service to the Valley, the movement lost steam.

A decade later, a subcommittee of the Tarzana Chamber of Commerce once again began studying secession, and others soon jumped on the bandwagon.

In July 1975, a handful of Valley businessmen formed a group called CIVICC - Committee Investigating Valley Independent City/County.

As always, the city's politicians criticized the idea. Mayor Tom Bradley predicted that a Valley city would face ``staggering'' costs for bond debt and capital improvements.

In May 1976, CIVICC released a survey of 1,200 Valley residents that found 58 percent supported an independent Valley city and county.

Later, a CIVICC-commissioned study concluded that Valley taxpayers paid 40 percent of the city's taxes but got only 15 percent of its services.

In April 1978, the group launched a petition drive to create a Valley city. The Legislature, at the city's urging, changed state law in 1978 to give the City Council veto power over any secession from L.A. and Gov. Jerry Brown signed it into law.

In 1996, Assemblywoman Paula Boland sought to remove the veto power but lost by a single vote after refusing to agree to a requirement for a citywide majority as well as a Valley majority to pass.

One of those leading the opposition was then-Assemblyman Richard Katz, a Valley Democrat who was then Assembly minority leader and now leads the cityhood campaign.

The following year, newly elected Assemblymen Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, and Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, won passage of the law change by agreeing to a citywide vote, and Gov. Pete Wilson signed the measure.

Valley activists then created Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment, which became the major force behind the secession effort.

Valley VOTE got 202,000 signatures in 1998 supporting a study of secession. Two years later, the Los Angeles County Local Agency Formation Commission launched a $2.65 million study to determine whether a Valley city would be financially viable and how breakup could be accomplished.

The report, which took two years to complete, set the terms for divorce. The nine-member LAFCO board voted in May to put Valley secession - Measure F - on the Nov. 5 ballot.

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Van Nuys' roots reach back to 1911. In 1915 Valley residents voted to join Los Angeles.

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SNAPSHOTS OF THE VALLEY SECESSION MOVEMENT

SOURCE: Daily News Research

Gregg Miller/Staff Artist