NEW VALLEY GLEN AREA HAILS FEUER'S APPROVAL.

Byline: Yvette Cabrera Daily News Staff Writer

Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Feuer's decision to endorse the creation of a Valley Glen neighborhood was met with enthusiasm Tuesday at a meeting of residents who had fought to create an identity separate from Van Nuys.

``I honor the work that you have done to develop a cohesive neighborhood of people who look out for each other,'' Feuer told 100 people gathered at the Erwin Street School in Van Nuys. ``That is what Los Angeles needs more of. I know this is such a big sprawling place that many of us have sought ways to establish a community identification, a real sense of place.''

The councilman said he reconciled two principles in coming to his decision - the desire for community control in a large metropolis and the need for citywide unity despite problems such as crime and drugs.

Peer Ghent, president of the Valley Glen Neighborhood Association, said Feuer's decision was a fair one.

``I am relieved,'' said Ghent. ``We had been doing a lot of things like beautification and anti-graffiti projects and in recognition for that we decided we wanted to get some identity for our neighborhood.''

The association, which led the name-change effort, has created a safe-house program for neighborhood children who are in danger, bolstered the Neighborhood Watch groups in the area, and recently purchased a police car to park in certain areas to ward off criminals, said Feuer's chief field deputy, Sharon Mayer.

The area approved for the name change is approximately one square mile, bounded by Victory Boulevard to the north, Woodman Avenue to the west, the Tujunga Wash to the east and Burbank Boulevard to the south, said Mayer.

Feuer's decision includes an option for adjacent areas in Van Nuys to petition within the next four months to join Valley Glen. The councilman will require a two-thirds majority approval from those areas in order to become part of Valley Glen, which still will be part of the city of Los Angeles.

The adjacent areas - nine square city blocks - would add an extra two square miles to the new community. Those areas include everything in Feuer's district north of Burbank Boulevard up to the district boundaries, said Mayer.

Feuer's decision, made last week, has been challenged by some residents who said they are proud of the Van Nuys moniker and see no need for the new Valley Glen name.

Though the name change issue had been much debated, Mayer said close to 70 percent - or 808 - of the 1,204 single-family homes in the Valley Glen area approved of the plan.

The name change will involve relatively little bureaucracy with the simple posting of official blue and white signs bearing the new area's name accompanied by the city's seal.

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