Santa Clarita Writes a Letter to Gorbachev

Could a visit by Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev to the fledgling city of Santa Clarita be in the cards?

At a Monday news conference, Mayor Howard P. (Buck) McKeon said that Gorbachev has been sent a written invitation to attend a 1989 Santa Clarita-sponsored symposium on cities in the 21st Century. If Gorbachev can’t make it, McKeon said he hopes the Soviets will send a representative.

McKeon said he sent the letter to Gorbachev in October, but there has been no response from Soviet officials.

A spokesman at the Soviet Embassy in Washington said in a telephone interview that Soviet officials stationed in the United States were unaware of Santa Clarita’s invitation. But he added: “I am sure President Gorbachev will consider it with all seriousness.”

The symposium, to be held in the northern Los Angeles County municipality is still in the planning stages, but McKeon said it will be held in May or June.

Gorbachev is the only person who has been sent a formal invitation so far, city officials said.

McKeon came up with the idea to invite a Soviet official after reading a magazine article about reforms taking place in the Soviet Union’s local governments. One of the major changes in the Soviet system calls for municipal officials to be given increased fiscal independence and more freedom to make decisions.

Santa Clarita is the perfect place, McKeon said, for a Soviet leader to learn about local control and independence. It is a place where a little over a year ago residents voted to form their own city, he noted.

“It would be interesting if they could send someone here,” McKeon said.

Hope to Use Ideas

Santa Clarita officials said they decided to hold the symposium to help them learn what cities’ needs will be in the next century. They said they plan to incorporate some of the ideas developed at the conference into the city’s general plan.

In his letter to Gorbachev, McKeon described the symposium as a “small international conference having representation from universities, corporations, the building industry, economists, futurists, demographers . . . who will discuss and explore significant events that will influence a 21st-Century city.”

McKeon said Gorbachev might not have responded to the city’s entreaty because he has been busy lately.

There were preparations for his visit earlier this month to New York City, where he spoke before the General Assembly of the United Nations. That trip ended abruptly after an earthquake, measured at magnitude 6.9, caused massive devastation and widespread loss of life in several Soviet Armenian cities. Gorbachev returned to his country to direct rescue efforts.

About the symposium, McKeon said: “This would be a chance for us to tell other people what we’ve done.”