Hahn Says a Breakup Wouldn’t Pay Off for Either L.A. or Valley

Picking up his campaign to keep Los Angeles whole even as a state commission approved a ballot measure that would break it apart, Mayor James K. Hahn said Wednesday that a separate Valley city would be costly for all residents and would not result in the small-town atmosphere that secession backers are seeking.

“Remember, we’re talking about a city that is the Phoenix, Philadelphia size,” said Hahn, referring to the 1.3 million people who live in what would be a separate Valley city. “We’re not talking about Mayberry here.”

Hahn’s lunchtime speech to the local chapter of the American Jewish Committee came as the Local Area Formation Commission deliberated whether to put Valley cityhood on the ballot. Hours later, the commission voted to place that measure on the November ballot over the objections of Hahn, who asked the panel to delay its vote until the matter could be studied more extensively.

The mayor formed a campaign committee in November to defeat secession, and he has identified that effort as his top priority. In addition to its implications for Los Angeles, secession also contains personal risks for Hahn, putting him in the position of being the mayor under whom the nation’s second-largest city is broken up.

On Wednesday, he discussed the topic on the monthly “Ask the Mayor” radio call-in show and then made it the centerpiece of his lunchtime address. In that speech, Hahn asked the 200 people assembled in a dining room of the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel to join his effort to combat secession, a request that drew strong applause.

“I think he sees it as one of the true challenges to his term as mayor, and my sense is that he is rising to the occasion,” said Rabbi Gary Greenebaum, Western regional director of the American Jewish Committee.

During his 30-minute address, Hahn laid out a wide-ranging argument against secession, appealing both to residents’ pride in the city and to their apprehension about what the split could mean.

As he often does in speeches, Hahn cited improvements he has made to city services since taking office in July, but he spent the bulk of his speech ticking off problems he said would ensue under secession. Taxes in the new area would probably increase, Hahn said, and some services could be cut. The Valley, according to Hahn, would be less well-equipped than it is today to handle major emergencies, and would not, at least initially, have rent control or neighborhood councils, two popular city programs.

Hahn also warned that the breakup could damage the rest of the city as well by stripping away part of its tax base and encouraging other communities to explore leaving.

“We’ll see a movement that will begin to destroy everything that Los Angeles has been over the years,” the mayor said. Secession advocates objected to Hahn’s tack, saying that he was misleading people about the financial health of a Valley city.

“He offers no options and no alternatives,” said Richard Close, chairman of the pro-secession group Valley VOTE. “Instead of coming up with positive reasons for people to vote no, he instead relies on scare tactics.”