State Agency Rejects Proposal for a New City at L.A. Harbor

A state agency acted Wednesday to kill a proposal to create a new city in the harbor area of Los Angeles after finding that San Pedro and Wilmington could not generate enough money to function as an independent municipality.

Harbor-area secessionists have 30 days to appeal the vote of the Local Agency Formation Commission, but cityhood proponents said they probably would let the decision stand.

“We are not likely to appeal,� said Andy Mardesich, executive director of the Harbor Study Foundation, which sought cityhood.

A financial study by LAFCO concluded in May 2002 that the harbor area did not generate enough revenue to cover the expenses of the proposed city. LAFCO must find that a proposed city is fiscally viable before a secession proposal can be submitted to voters.

The agency released another report later that month saying the proposed city could be made fiscally viable if Los Angeles forgave millions of dollars in debt and provided additional funds in a new loan.

The Harbor Study Foundation said further study was warranted, but LAFCO’s executive director said he could not justify the cost of additional analysis.

Larry Calemine, LAFCO’s executive officer, said last year’s study was based on a Los Angeles budget that ran a surplus. The city’s financial condition has weakened since then, meaning the harbor area would have even less money to work with.

“We denied their application. It’s all over,� Calemine said Wednesday after the LAFCO vote. “We felt it (a new study) was an inappropriate expenditure of public funds.�

The action was welcomed by Mayor James K. Hahn and his sister, Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who both live in San Pedro.

“San Pedro and Wilmington residents have asked for years about the possibility of being our own city: Would we be better off?� Councilwoman Hahn said. “Today we have an answer: It is not a viable option.�

Mardesich maintained that a harbor-area city would be financially feasible. He accused LAFCO of minimizing its financial strength by drawing boundaries that excluded a major tax-generating industrial area from the proposed city.

He said the cityhood drive could be revived if activists succeed in changing state law to allow secession measures to be approved with only the vote of the area that seeks to break away.

Current law requires approval by both a majority of voters in the breakaway area and a majority of voters in the city that an area seeks to secede from.

In November, a ballot measure to create a separate city in the San Fernando Valley was approved by a majority of voters in the Valley but defeated citywide.

At the same time, a measure to create a new city in Hollywood lost citywide as well as in Hollywood.