Jul 14 2008
By DON WANLASS, Managing Editor
EAST LOS ANGELES — The drive to make East Los Angeles the 89th city in Los Angeles County took a major step forward July 4 when state Sen. Gloria Romero, D-East Los Angeles, and members of the East Los Angeles Residents Association launched a signature drive they hope will lead to a vote for cityhood.
The group gathered under the Whittier Boulevard Arch near the corner of Arizona Avenue and, using Independence Day as a theme, compared the incorporation effort to the American Revolution some 232 years ago. "This is our Boston Tea Party," said Oscar Gonzales, president of the East Los Angeles Residents Association.
"This is not the birth of a nation, but it';s the birth of a city. It's the birth of a city, the city of East Los Angeles," Romero said.
The residents association, however, is using 21st century means to gather the necessary 9,000 signtaures that would start the incorporation ball rolling.
While using traditional signature-gathering methods such as going door-to-door, organizers also plan to place messages on Myspace.com and Facebook Web sites to reach as many people as possible.
Once the signatures are collected and verified, the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), will hold hearings and conduct studies to determine if the area can generate enough tax revenue to support basic services such as fire, police and trash collection.
If LAFCO approves the cityhood application, voters in the area will have the chance vote for cityhood. No time frame has been set by backers.
The area seeking to be incorporated is 7.5 square miles of unincorporated county territory that is surrounded by the cities of Los Angeles, Montebello, Monterey Park and Commerce. It is home to an estimated 150,000 people, which would make East Los Angeles the 10th largest city in the county.
A fiscal analysis commissioned by the cityhood backers last year showed that the city of East Los Angeles could expect to generate $48 million a year to support city services.
The summary of the report said: "The initial fiscal analysis gauges the feasibility of potential incorporation of the East Los Angeles community. Although not required by law, this analysis is recommended by the Governor's Office of Planning and Research prior to initiation of incorporation. The [analysis] finds that the East Los Angeles community could be financially feasible as a new city."
The report was conducted by Burr Consulting for $25,000, paid for by supporters of cityhood.
Romero, who addressed the East Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce on the cityhood issues on October 2006, said at the time: "We've got the name brand already. Everyone knows East Los Angeles. Do we have the political will to do it"; is the only question.
Gonzales and Romero say the county spends $24 million a year on Sheriff’s Department services to unincorporated East Los Angeles, but that would be reduced to $13 million a year because of reduced overhead costs.
Supervisor Gloria Molina, who represents East Los Angeles on the county Board of Supervisors and is the closest thing to a local elected official for the area, is skeptical - and neutral - on cityhood.
"It's very, very glamorous to think about a city incorporating itself" Molina told the Los Angeles
Times last year. "Can it sustain itself? That's the real question."
In May, Molina led ceremonies officially dedicating the East Los Angeles Civic Center on East Third Street. The center is anchored by the East Los Angeles Sheriff’s Station but also includes the East Los Angeles Library, the East Los Angeles Courthouse and the Edward R. Roybal Comprehensive Health Center, as well as part of Belvedere Park, including a lake and amphitheater.
It is also the future home of the Dionicio Morales Transit Plaza, which will be the next-to-last stop on the MTA Gold Line's Eastside Extension when it is completed next year.
This marks the fourth effort to incorporate East Los Angeles since 1961 and the first since 1974.
At that time, cities surrounding East Los Angeles were considering annexing parts of the community, and a group seeking to keep the predominantly Latino community intact explored incorporation.
Skeptics cite the area's dense population and a per capita income of $9,000, way below the federal poverty line, as drawbacks to incorporation.
Other drawbacks are a high unemployment rate and a high school dropout rate disproportionately higher than the rest of the Los Angeles Unified School District, which serves most of the area.
