By Guy F. Smith
November 18, 2002

Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn, leader of an anti-secession campaign, is celebrating the results of local referendums that would have separated the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood.

After the successful campaign against a secession drive that would have, if realized, created the sixth largest city in The United States, Mayor Hahn unveiled a 10-point plan geared to bring LA services closer to the citizens of seven major areas of the city. They include building permits, sidewalk and street repairs, trash pickup and graffiti cleanup.

Mayor Hahn's intensive drive was to keep LA as it exists—the second largest U.S. city with a population of 3,694,820— and an intact municipal government. Breakaway would have created a new city of 1.6 million.

In an unusual sidebar, the Nov. 5 elections saw winners in races for Valley mayor and 14 Valley council seats, plus five Hollywood Council seats, but they would have taken office only if secession had won.

The Los Angeles Times reported after the vote that Hahn's anti-secession drive raised $7 million and received widespread support from a potent coalition of municipal unions, black and Latino leaders, billionaire business moguls and most of the city's politicians.

The vote capped a six-year drive by advocates of secession to break away from LA.

Hahn, for his part, pushed a message of unification, and steadily improving city services.