RIORDAN WOOS VALLEY; MAYOR PUSHES UNIFIED, BETTER L.A. TO AREA LEADERS.

Byline: Rick Orlov Daily News Staff Writer

Confronting the secession movement head-on, Mayor Richard Riordan demanded Friday that his San Fernando Valley appointees to city commissions work to make Los Angeles as a whole better and to head off the breakup drive.

Backed by Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks and Fire Chief Bill Bamattre, Riordan boasted of the progress he has made at getting the Valley a fairer share of city services, but painted a dire picture of higher taxes, more bureaucracy and confusion in the Valley if it becomes a city.

After the hourlong, closed-door session with about 80 Valley commissioners, many participants agreed that the critical issue is power and influence for the Valley and other communities in Los Angeles politics. But consensus was far from unanimous on the pursuit of Valley cityhood and some commissioners joined the mayor in committing themselves to work hard to pull the city together.

An aide said Riordan had no intent to intimidate the commissioners, although many felt the mayor was trying to weaken the drive toward secession.

Riordan opened the meeting at Valley Presbyterian Hospital by greeting the commissioners with ``Welcome, Los Angeles leaders.''

Participants said he outlined how city services in the Valley, particularly police and fire, have improved since he took office - a theme reiterated in detail by Parks and Bamattre during their presentations.

Afterward, Riordan said in an interview that the secession movement is destructive and a distraction to reforming city government. He said he wants Valley commissioners to work to improve the city and against secession.

``The Valley was neglected for years,'' he said. ``But that has changed since I took office. I more than doubled the number of commissioners from the Valley and we have increased services so that the Valley is receiving its fair share.

``I believe the entire city needs more than its fair share. What I am telling people is to put their efforts into making Los Angeles better so the city and the Valley all benefit.''

Riordan said he believes it will be difficult to create a city with more than 1.2 million residents.

``I think the taxes would be higher,'' Riordan said. ``It means you'll have layers of bureaucracy and would have to replicate the infrastructure for waters, fire, police.

``Creating a new city means you'll have lots of stumbling blocks and mistakes and you're better off improving what we had.''

Some participants complained about the lack of give and take with Riordan using 45 minutes, leaving others just 20 minutes.

``It was only at the very end that we were able to address secession and then the time was up,'' said one commissioner, who asked not to be identified. ``I realize this was the first meeting, but I wanted to be able to hear more from the other commissioners.''

Riordan said even the brief exchanges helped him. ``I was listening and did learn from this. The main thing was to learn from the commissioners and see what we have to do to stop this disruptive secession movement. All it does is serve as a distraction from what we have to do.''

Among those who spoke was Fire Commissioner David Fleming, a leader in charter reform with Riordan and co-founder of a nonprofit foundation to provide information on Valley cityhood.

Fleming proposed a borough system of government with different parts of the city having some autonomy.

Later, he said he thought the meeting represented an important first step in creating a dialogue on the issues.

``Part of the problem we have is the Valley is separated from the rest of the city and I suggested we form a committee to look at common problems and reach some type of middle ground,'' Fleming said.

``The mayor's thinking, and I understand it, is to answer this (secession) thing with charter reform. I agree, but also think that we have to look at Los Angeles from a regional standpoint. I'm not trying to break up the city but trying to change the government structure.''

Planning Commissioner Bob Scott said the question that needs to be answered goes beyond a fair share of services.

``It is more about self-determination and local control,'' Scott said. ``That's what is important to the Valley and other parts of the city. What we need to address is how people determine their own future.''

The general view of the issue being community power - more than services - was echoed by other commissioners although some like Marcia Volpert of the Water and Power Commission expressed concern about further dividing the city.

``Our main problem is governance and the division and power. That's what we have to look at,'' she said.

Keith Richman, a Community Redevelopment Agency commissioner, said he came away committed to the betterment of the city. ``What we haven't done is develop a city structure that involves all the people.''

Richman said he believes thoughts of secession should be put off.

``You can't sit on both sides of the table,'' Richman said. ``If there is any question to that, then I look at that as insubordination. We have to be committed to making the city better. If we are unsuccessful in doing that, then we should look at secession.''

The pro-secession group Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment, which was excluded from the meeting although some members participated as commissioners, called on Riordan to work with it in finding equity for the Valley even if it means cityhood is the best way.

``We urge the mayor to join us in an effort to study these important issues. We call upon Mayor Richard Riordan to form a partnership between Valley VOTE leaders to bring equity to the Valley,'' Valley VOTE leaders said in a statement.

Riordan spokesman Noelia Rodriguez said the mayor wants to talk about making the city better but is not interested in working on the secession question.

``Everything the mayor is doing is aimed at keeping the city together,'' Rodriguez said.

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Photo

PHOTO (Color) Mayor Richard Riordan pays a trip to Ventura Boulevard in Studio City on Friday.

David R. Crane/Daily News