VIEWS ON VALLEY SECESSION: THIS IS NOT ABOUT LOCAL GOVERNMENT; IT'S ABOUT POWER.

Byline: Jim Van Sickle 

I am a native Californian born in Burbank 48 years ago. I lived and attended public schools in the San Fernando Valley. I have a bachelor of science in history from UCLA, but I do electrical work for a living.

I've worked about half of my career in the Metro, Westside and Harbor areas, the other half in the Valley. I currently live in Canyon Country and still work in the city of Los Angeles.

I'm not an expert in city government or politics, but I've been around for a lot of both. Let me tell you what I believe is at work here.

The key word is power. Yes, the Valley pays for more services than it gets, and the less wealthy parts of Los Angeles get more services than they pay for. Is it really important? No.

There are no other major areas in the city receiving such a bounty of extra services that it makes them a lot better off than anywhere else. The cops go where the crime is. The Valley pays more because it can. Other areas pay less because they can't pay more.

In reality, the city is falling down on major infrastructure and services across the board.

The reasons for the decline of these quality-of-life issues in city government are complex and involve taxes, the county, the state, and even federal laws and regulations.

There is only so much money to go around, and choices have to be made. Who makes these choices? Those in power. Where is the power? Downtown, of course.

The mayor, City Council, the city's ``leading citizens'' (corporate citizens emphatically included) and the orbiting shadow government of lobbyists are at the center of power. Everything is negotiable, and nearly everything is possible - if you have the right connections (if you disagree, keep an eye on the NFL deal).

The Valley is just another player in this game, with less power than some other areas. And the Valley's big guns are tired of it.

The sole purpose of the secession movement is to break up the game; to create a new center of power in the Valley, so the local power brokers can play just like the big boys downtown.

That is not to say there aren't honest and concerned citizens supporting secession for their own reasons, including elected officials.

Almost everyone believes smaller government means better representation. If that means making promises of ``representative'' governing, why then of course the people behind the secession movement will make it so. Of course, just how representative is never discussed.

If the Valley's 1.35 million citizens elect 14 council members, each voter and his 90,000 partners are unlikely to be on close personal terms with their council person.

There are equally honest and concerned citizens and officials railing against secession because they believe in the L.A. version of the California dream.

They believe that Los Angeles is bigger and better than the sum of its parts, and that splitting things up will forever diminish (or destroy) the unique civic, cultural and business values that make up Los Angeles.

Of course, they are not the people who will ensure that secession fails. It is the people who will suffer most directly from the loss of power, control and money who will fight tooth and nail to prevent the partitioning of L.A. - those who currently have all of that.

The elected officials in city government have long had the power to make secession go away. Without the disgruntled voters in the Valley, the game would have been over long ago.

It is a measure of the institutional arrogance involved that no one took the issues seriously at City Hall until just recently.

Council members are busy getting re-elected, and the last two mayors couldn't have found the Valley with a map, a GPS and a tour guide.

Just a little attention to the Valley's issues (or whining, depending on where you live) would have gutted the secession movement as recently as two years ago.

So there it is. It's about power. It's all about the Benjamins, 'cuz if you have enough, you get to be a player. It used to be block voting could swing things in this town, but the breakup of the old coalitions has left a vacuum that corporations and ``leading citizens'' (read developers) have succeeded in filling.

Now you know. Whatcha gonna do about it, hmm?