Valley Secession

Re “A Thorny Secession Issue: Who Would Police Valley?� July 18.

We have yet another example of a few would-be politicians and publicity seekers looking to create an issue out of thin air. The secession of the San Fernando Valley is a reckless, poorly thought-out political trick designed to do little more than draw attention to its advocates. Those advocates read like a who’s who of failed political aspirations.

These proponents would have Valley residents believe that their withdrawal from the city of Los Angeles would create a Mayberry or even Pleasantville type of city, a return to the attitudes and values of 40 or 50 years ago. The fact is that it would create a city large enough to rank it among the biggest in the United States, only without a workable plan of any kind for water, police, fire and normal city services that even fantasy towns like Mayberry have.

A recent report indicating the drop in crime in the Valley as well as the overall enhanced quality of life is not even addressed by these proponents, just as they fail to address any issue that cannot be twisted into something that fits their self-serving agenda.

Voters won’t be fooled. Secessionists have an issue to talk about for a while longer, but when the Valley’s voters overwhelmingly fail to support this adventure, as the polls indicate they will, these wags will return to looking under rocks for another issue to waste the public’s time. That is until these self-appointed guardians of righteousness set their sights on another public office the voters will be happy to once again reject them for.

KEN WEISS, Woodland Hills