LAFCO to start feasibility study
BY RICK ORLOV, Staff Writer
06/14/2007
For the first time in more than 30 years, a cityhood bid for East Los Angeles will be considered, beginning with an economic viability study expected to be announced today.
The Local Agency Formation Commission is due to announce it will study whether East Los Angeles meets economic criteria to become the 89th city in Los Angeles County.
The LAFCO study would take about nine months, after which backers would have to collect signatures from about 10,000 registered voters.
"We know the political will is there," said Oscar Gonzales, president of the East Los Angeles Residents Association, a nonprofit group formed to study cityhood. "We are confident the people will support it. The question is if we can get a study showing we are economically viable."
East Los Angeles would be a 7.5-square-mile city with some 150,000 residents, making it the ninth-largest in the county.
The new drive - the last one failed in 1974 - was prompted by the availability of new tax and population information, said Gustavo Camacho, one of the effort's organizers.
"Now, we have information that we can take to LAFCO to show that a city could work," Camacho said. "We think it's time we had our own city."
The effort is backed by state Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, and Assemblywoman Grace Napolitano, D-Los Angeles. Supervisor Gloria Molina, in whose district the area is located, has been neutral on the proposal, Gonzales said.
Aides to Molina did not return calls seeking comment.
Gonzales said cityhood could improve funding and services for area residents.
"Our people vote for all the bond issues and don't get our fair share," Gonzales said. "Supervisor Molina does a good job, but her district has 3 million people. No one could provide the representation of a City Council with five members representing 150,000 people."
It was Romero who asked the county to provide information to cityhood supporters on the sources of revenue and expenditures for East Los Angeles.
"We look forward to the county's commitment to have this information available," Romero said.
If LAFCO signs off, backers hope a cityhood vote could go on the November 2008 ballot.
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