No to Single Secession Study

Breaking apart Los Angeles was never going to be easy, let alone wise. But the enormity of the task facing secessionists--and the potential costs to all of us--is only now becoming clear. Last week, a county report estimated that preliminary study of a municipal divorce could cost as much as $8 million. That’s several times what was expected and a lot more than anyone--the city, the county, the secessionists themselves--wants to pay.

The cost is so high in part because the county report envisions conducting a single, combined examination of all secession movements from the San Fernando Valley to San Pedro. This, despite the fact that only the group peddling Valley secession has submitted the petition required to launch the state-mandated study. The 202,000 signatures on that petition still are being verified because a random sample revealed too low a proportion of valid names.

Although conducting a single, comprehensive study of various scenarios makes academic sense, it is politically and practically unrealistic. Such a study would take years, contemplating some 80 different versions of Los Angeles--depending on which of the seven areas now considering secession might succeed, in what combination. Everything from how to value assets such as the harbor to which new city gets which police cars would be examined.

The cost of the study would be nearly impossible to allocate fairly. Already, some secessionists grumble that the high cost represents another obstacle to their dream of splintering Los Angeles into a number of municipalities. State law permits the Local Agency Formation Commission to pass the costs of such studies on to those seeking secession. But how can the commission charge groups that have yet to gather a single signature? Even studying the secession of San Pedro, for instance, or a giant “Westside” community, may grant such wrongheaded notions too much respect.

When the commission board meets today, it should reject the idea of a combined study and focus instead on the Valley, the only area that has turned in petitions. And then the board members should remind secessionists that their actions have real monetary costs.