Efforts to Break Up LA Take Big Step Forward

LOS ANGELES-Efforts by secessionists in the sprawling San Fernando Valley tobreak away from the grip of Los Angeles to form their own government—-andthus create the sixth-largest city in the US–have been given a major boostby a key government commission. Ending a study that took more than a year to complete, the Local AgencyFormation Commission has determined that an independent Valley would befinancially viable and would not harm what would be left of the City of LosAngeles.

The study by LAFCO, the government agency that must approve suchbreakups, also confirmed what Valley secessionists have claimed for years:They pay a lot more in taxes than they get back in services from LA CityHall, which stands about an hour’s drive away.

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and other opponents of splitting up LAdecried the study. “LAFCO is a very political source,” Riordan says. “It’smade up of people who support secession.”