🚀 go-pugleaf

On 25 Apr 1996 15:15:40 PDT, amk@bway.net (Andy Katz) said:

> MHigby@Primenet.com (Michael Higby) wrote:

>> mcaldon@wavenet.com (Don McKenzie) writes:

>>>Will the secession be peaceful, like Quebec's effort, or more like
>>>Chechnya or Chiapas?

> Should this latest attempt at saying 'fuck you!' to everyone else,
> 'I've got my little piece of suburban heaven!' succeed, the problem
> remains of where to put the newly liberated San Fernando Valley.
> Clearly it cannot remain in such proximity to the city it scorned. 

[deletia]

As a sometime visitor to the Valley (a place I would never, ever live,
BTW -- too hot and smoggy) and an OC resident, I can well understand
the Valley cities' wish to wrest political control from downtown.
It's especially understandable when you consider the finger-pointing
and even occaisional name-calling (as exhibited here) that Angelenos
south of the Santa Monicas engage in when dealing with their northern
neighbors.

I'm generally cynical about politicians and their ability to do
anything truly useful.  But my understanding is that a lot of the
sentiment for secession comes from having to deal with the hopelessly
bureaucratic LAUSD; secession would place the regional school
districts under direct local control.  I also tend to think that
Valleyites think they're getting the short end of the fiscal stick, a
charge I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss.

There's a lot of sneering from the left about Valley residents trying
to avoid urban problems.  My answer to this is that there's plenty of
cravenness going around, and them what live in glass houses oughta
check their stones at the door.  You will note that, from my
perspective (again, what I've read in the funny papers), the
Westside's political silence over rooting out egregiously racist LAPD
cops is thundering.  In other words, maintaining the LAPD at the
status quo is not such a bad idea, so long as the cops keep away the
unrulies east of the 405.
-- 
    Robert L. McMillin  | rlm@helen.surfcty.com | Netcom: rlm@netcom.com
	    WWW: ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/rl/rlm/home.html