L.A. 'PEACE' DEAL FAILS HAHN KILLS PROPOSAL TO PUSH BOROUGHS VOTE AHEAD OF SECESSION.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer

Secret talks over the past two weeks between key players on both sides of the secession issue collapsed Wednesday after Mayor James Hahn rejected a proposal to delay the secession vote in exchange for a borough plan on the ballot.

The talks, initiated by Assemblyman Bob Hertzberg and billionaire Eli Broad, included a proposal to get a plan to restructure Los Angeles city government into boroughs on the Nov. 5 ballot if secessionists would agree to seek a postponement of the cityhood vote.

Secession leader Richard Close did not sign on to the plan, but listened and participated in the talks, while David Fleming, a key financial backer of secession and longtime borough advocate, said he was open to the idea.

When Hertzberg floated the idea to Hahn on Tuesday, the mayor rejected it immediately and refused to meet to discuss it, according to a Hahn spokesman. Hahn has taken no position on boroughs, which would give local communities control over land use and budgetary authority over local issues.

After Hahn's reaction, a meeting Broad and Hertzberg had scheduled for Wednesday with several key civic leaders was canceled and no new talks are scheduled.

``The mayor rejected out of hand the idea of pulling secession off the ballot,'' said Deputy Mayor Matt Middlebrook. ``He feels people have the right to vote on this.

``(Hahn is) not going to support any back-room deal on trying to take this off the ballot. Tens of thousands of people signed petitions on this thing. The mayor has consistently supported having this on the ballot and didn't harbor for one second the idea of pulling it off, as was being proposed.''

Close said he agreed to participate in the talks to see what the players had to say, but he did not agree on trying to postpone the cityhood vote. He likes the concept of boroughs, but believes they should be created in an independent Valley city, as well as the remaining Los Angeles.

``I did participate in meetings, as an observer, because I'm interested in boroughs for the Valley, and boroughs for the smaller L.A.,'' Close said. ``We're going to get boroughs, I believe, through the new Valley city charter.''

Hertzberg and Broad first arranged a meeting about two weeks ago between several key players in the secession issue, including Close, chairman of Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment, and Fleming, who provided more than $100,000 to promote a study of secession. They also later approached other key Los Angeles figures such as former Mayor Richard Riordan, real estate magnate Ed Roski, municipal union boss Julie Butcher and state historian Kevin Starr, a strong supporter of boroughs.

Hertzberg said the talks were originally aimed at just getting the two sides together to avoid what he sees as a divisive fight leading to the November election.

But one idea floated, and then tentatively pursued, was to see whether secessionists would support a borough plan - possibly Hertzberg's own proposal or a similar one - and then ask for a delay in the cityhood vote.

``My objective was to get people to come together,'' Hertzberg said. ``I believe a secession fight, irrespective of the outcome, is going to have horrible consequences for the city. I'm deeply concerned about that.''

The Local Agency Formation Commission on May 22 decided to place Valley cityhood on the Nov. 5 ballot and rejected the city's final appeal Monday.

The county Board of Supervisors is the next and final step in the process, with a meeting scheduled for July 25 to formally place it on the ballot. The supervisors' decision, however, is not a political one, but a technical one because the county is running the election.

The LAFCO decision followed six years of effort by secessionists that included changing state laws to make Valley secession possible, gathering more than 200,000 signatures and getting more than $2 million, mostly in state money, to pay for the LAFCO study.

Postponing the cityhood vote would entail asking LAFCO and the supervisors to keep it off the ballot. LAFCO Executive Officer Larry Calemine said he was doubtful whether state law at this point would even allow that to happen, but Hertzberg, who has studied and rewritten the laws governing LAFCOs statewide, believes it is possible.

Shortly after LAFCO approved a vote on Valley secession, Hertzberg released a detailed borough plan.

City Council members Wendy Greuel and Janice Hahn are also working on a borough plan, although it is less detailed than Hertzberg's.

Butcher, general manager of Service Employees International Union Local 347, said Fleming called her Tuesday to invite her to a Wednesday meeting, but that it was canceled Wednesday morning.

Butcher and the union are in favor of a borough plan but opposed to secession, although she said they do want secession on the ballot in November so they can defeat it at the polls.

She said she sees flaws - albeit fixable ones - in Hertzberg's plan, such as not having direct elections of borough presidents and not providing some extra assistance to boroughs in less-affluent communities.

``Our position is that we're in favor of boroughs and we're in favor of people voting on secession in November,'' Butcher said.

``If Fleming and Close want to ask LAFCO to ask the Board of Supervisors to not put it on the ballot this year, I'd be thrilled,'' she added. ``Then we could start the period of reconstruction today. I'm not going to be part of attempting to influence anybody to make a deal on that basis.''

Fleming, a former member of the city Ethics and Fire commissions and chairman of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, said he was open to the idea of asking for a postponement of the cityhood vote if there was a good borough plan on the ballot.

``I was willing to look at it,'' Fleming said. ``If it really made sense and if I thought there was cooperation from downtown, then clearly this is something I think we should seriously consider. Not removing it, but postponing the vote, in lieu of a chance to allow all of the electorate of the city of Los Angeles to vote on a meaningful borough system.''

``But downtown isn't interested. They think they're going to win handily and they'll teach the Valley a lesson they'll never forget. It's war.''