ONE SHOT AT BREAKUP? HAHN WANTS LAW CHANGE TO DELAY FUTURE SECESSION BIDS.

Byline: Beth Barrett and Harrison Sheppard Staff Writers

Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn said Monday that if secession fails to pass Nov. 5, he will seek a state law barring new cityhood efforts in the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood for a ``reasonable amount of time.''

``It shouldn't have to come up every year and eat up taxpayer dollars,'' Hahn said. ``I'm not going to spend my whole term in office fighting every six months secession efforts.''

Hahn said the upcoming vote should be ``the end of it'' but that the ban should not last ``forever or a long time.''

``Stop changing the rules all the time,'' Hahn said. ``However, it comes out, we should all live with it.''

Secession leaders seized on Hahn's comments, accusing him of trying to thwart efforts to reform City Hall and create a more-democratic city.

``He's saying to 1.4 million people, you're not old enough, smart enough, wise enough to make your own decisions and I'll see to it you don't have the privilege of going to the ballot box,'' said former Assemblywoman Paula Boland, who helped get state law changed to remove the City Council's veto power over secession.

``There isn't anything more despicable in this country than someone who tries to steal democracy.''

Hahn first raised the issue in an interview with the Los Angeles Business Journal published Monday.

The mayor also disclosed that he will break with a nine-year tradition of delivering a ``State of the Valley'' address at a Valley Industry and Commerce Association event scheduled for Nov. 1. He left open the question of whether he would attend an event after the secession vote. VICA recently voted to support secession.

Hahn confirmed his remarks on the secession moratorium when reached by the Daily News on his private telephone line.

``This exercise is not the best use of taxpayers' money,'' Hahn said, adding that the millions spent on secession-related matters could be better spent on police, fixing streets and opening libraries.

Secessionists said they would fight any such attempt by the mayor to impose new obstacles to secession and might seek a court ruling that would strike down the requirement that secession must pass in the Valley and citywide to win approval.

Secession advocate Bob Scott noted that, when new cities are created from unincorporated county territories, only the people living in the affected territory vote, not the entire county.

``I would personally take a role in any effort to change the law,'' Scott said. ``I think they've made it quite impossible to start with. The citywide vote really makes it close to impossible.''

``The idea is to get local control. We've tried to reform, we've tried it through boroughs. This city government is never going to reform itself from within. It's going to take some outside force, such as the people themselves.''

Lawsuit a possibility

Richard Close, chairman of Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment, said he remains confident of victory citywide and in the Valley, but added that a lawsuit is still a possibility in case it fails outside the Valley.

``Attorneys have approached me indicating that they believe that the requirement of a citywide majority is illegal and a violation of the California Constitution,'' Close said, declining to name the attorneys. ``And I believe there will be a challenge of that requirement, if we do not win citywide. However, I believe we will win citywide.''

Hahn also came under fire Monday by Valley officials for breaking with the tradition to give a ``State of the Valley'' address at the annual VICA Business Forecast Conference on Nov. 1.

Hahn said he had a scheduling conflict, but did not have his calendar before him Monday to remind him what it was.

Hahn said VICA officials put his name on the invitation without getting a confirmation from his office.

``We tried to work with these people over and over and over again to pick another date,'' Hahn said. ``They fixate on the date; they won't be moved.''

Officials from the Mayor's Office and VICA have since discussed other dates for the mayor to speak after the election. Hahn said he'll be speaking in many parts of the city as he campaigns against breaking up Los Angeles.

``VICA is not ruling my world,'' Hahn said.

Bonny Herman, VICA's president and CEO, said the Mayor's Office seemed willing to work with VICA and to consider the Nov. 1 date either for the mayor, or a top city stand-in until a few weeks ago.

``It was an obvious win-win, we weren't setting him up to hurt him, it was an opportunity for him to reach out beyond VICA; my thoughts were pure,'' Herman said.

VICA Chairman Fred Gaines said he was disappointed the mayor could not make the event, and said the format the group had offered him would have been easy - no questions from the audience, just the mayor speaking by himself.

``We thought it was certainly a good opportunity for him to say whatever he wanted to say,'' Gaines said. ``I don't know what to say other than we're disappointed he's not going to make it. We've invited him to send a substitute. We'd love to hear from the new police chief. We haven't heard back from him (Hahn) yet about that.''

Hahn sent a letter Sept. 23 - the day before VICA announced it was supporting secession - saying he never agreed to the Nov. 1 date.

``I would appreciate it if you contact your membership and indicate the mistake in your brochure regarding my participation,'' Hahn wrote.

Hollywood speech

Hahn does, however, have a speech planned on Oct. 22 to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, a group that is opposed to secession, on his vision for Hollywood.

According to a statement from the Hollywood Chamber, Hahn will speak about his vision for Hollywood's continued revitalization, its benefits in remaining part of Los Angeles and other elements of interest to the Hollywood business community.

Hahn said he was planning to fight to change the law on future secession efforts, in part, to take them out of the hands of paid petition gathers who he blamed for building support for the movements in the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood. He made a point of noting the Daily News contributed $60,000 to help finance the petition drive that asked for a study of Valley secession.

The newspaper donated the money to help fund the drive after the city threw petitioners for the secession drive off city property at the Van Nuys Air Show, which was attended by hundreds of thousands of people. The Daily News did not contribute to the secession effort once the petition drive was completed or the campaign for the Nov. 5 vote on secession.

``Should we do it every time someone like the Daily News funds petition drives?'' Hahn asked.

Hahn said it's frustrating to work in an environment in which secessionists find fault with everything that City Hall does.

``We're all working hard at City Hall, in every neighborhood,'' Hahn said.

He said the ``100 percent negative'' criticism of secessionists has brainwashed residents and said a ``bizarre world'' has been shaped through ``the eyes of the Daily News.''

Hahn said the steady criticism is ``an insult to all city employees who work real hard to do a good job with limited resources.''

``It's very frustrating to me, it's illogical, it makes no sense,'' Hahn said.

He said the idea that the Valley isn't getting its fair share is flawed.

``You drive around South Central and tell them they're getting more than their fair share,'' Hahn said.

He said what revenues communities pay can't be matched exactly to the services they receive. If that were the case, he said, ``then there'd be 20 officers on every corner in Bel-Air.''

Keith Richman and Mel Wilson, the leading candidates for mayor of the Valley city, said Hahn's comments underscore the need for voters to approve secession.

Wilson said he isn't surprised that Hahn would seek legislation in Sacramento, since Los Angeles city government has more credibility among statewide politicians than it does among Valley residents.

``This highlights the urgency to get out the vote in this campaign,'' Wilson said.

Richman said Hahn's attitude reflects what's wrong at City Hall.

``That's just another statement to thwart the democracy of the people,'' Richman said. ``The establishment of a new Valley city shouldn't be about power. It should be about city services.''

PETITIONING SECESSION

Until state law was changed in 1997, efforts to secede from Los Angeles were effectively banned by a 20-year-old law that made them subject to a City Council veto. Under current law, petitions signed by 25 percent of voters are needed to get the county's Local Agency Formation Commission to conduct a study of whether the proposed new city is financially viable without harming the rest of the existing city.

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PETITIONING SECESSION (see text)