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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Women Create Loose Coalition for Secession Campaign

Women Create Loose Coalition for Secession Campaign Politics by Jacqueline Fox Think about the secession movement over the last year and which images do you conjure up as you put faces to the names of the loudest voices behind it? There’s the hickory-voiced Larry J. Calemine (which, for the life of me, I want to add “The Third” to every time I write his name), master of the master plan for secession as executive officer of the Local Agency Formation Commission. How about the mild-mannered Jeff Brain, president of Valley VOTE and notable quotable for nearly every publication that cares about it? Then there’s Richard Close, chairman of Valley VOTE, lord of lawyer-speak and winner of the “most calls returned to the press for comment” award for the year. In other words, think white, think real estate, think men. Besides wanting to wave bye-bye to Mayor Hahn and the horse he rode in on, those are a few things they have in common. In fact, ask most pundits and they’ll tell you secession has long been a good ol’ boy’s issue, far from the minds of minorities and, with the exception of a few Paula Bolands, the women of the Valley. Now thank Terry Stone, one of 15 female candidates out of the 111 running for city council and mayoral seats for a would-be Valley city. She’s responsible for devising a plan to put a new face on Valley politics and shatter the myth that only white real estate developers, their lawyers and underserved residents of the northeast Valley want a new city. Stone, a 55-year-old mother of one and graphic designer, is running for city council in what would be the Valley’s 10th District. Last week she got to thinking: “This isn’t a white businessman’s issue alone. This is about everyone. And a lot of it’s about women.” So she fired off a few e-mails, made calls to the 14 other female candidates running for offices and said, “Let’s have a meeting.” Thus, VALLEYWOMEN was born, and prepare to hear them roar about everything from potholes to prostitution from here to November. “When the candidates all began to organize and file papers, I noticed there were only 20 women interested in this,” Stone said. “Now it’s down to 15. I just can’t believe that.” She decided that secessionist complaints about unsafe neighborhoods, missing streetlights, high taxes and a bloated bureaucracy were issues that directly impact women. “Think about it,” Stone said. “Women in Pacoima and other parts of the northeast Valley don’t go out at night because in some pockets of the community, they don’t have any streetlights. Meanwhile, you’ve got a plan for brand new streetlights along Ventura Boulevard.” In fact, streetlights were the first issue VALLEYWOMEN was slated to tackle Aug. 31 in its first “street meeting” held at the corner of Pinney Street and Haddon Avenue in Pacoima. Expect them back biweekly, said Stone. I called up Harvey Englander, perhaps the city’s best-known political strategist and senior vice president of the MWW.Group, to see what he thought about VALLEYWOMEN. “What’s interesting about it is none of them have an office to hold if secession doesn’t win,” he said. “So what they are doing is, they are helping themselves and each other, as well as the other candidates because by joining together they are united, organized and working to raise the profile for the issue. They are pushing cityhood at the same time, so that’s good.” Since there will be no runoffs for Valley city elections, it’s unlikely we’ll see much of this kind of stuff among the male candidates for the 14 districts and mayor’s slot. Why? “Because men don’t typically do this kind of thing,” said Englander. “Typically, what you’ll see in campaigns is two candidates will join together to bump out a third one. So it’s usually a negative, not a positive, effort.” Up in the Air Burbank city officials and Burbank airport commissioners are still squabbling over grounded plans to begin implementing security enhancements, as mandated in the Aviation Transportation Security Act. A Burbank ordinance approved in 2001 barring any enhancements at the airport was thrown out by a Superior Court judge earlier this month, freeing the airport to proceed with its plans. In fact, the airport’s contractor was already at work the morning of Aug. 23 when the judge threw out Measure A. So city officials quickly slapped the airport with red tags and told workers to go home until building permits were issued, applications for which are being processed. Airport Commission President Chris Holden then raised the dander of city officials by firing off a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta explaining that, because of the hold-up with the permits, the airport would not meet its federally mandated Dec. 31 deadline. In the letter, however, according to city officials, Holden failed to note that: – The city pushed for and wanted to have Measure A overturned because it prevented the city from approving terminal enhancements without voter approval. – The city’s own planning board struck down a public appeal of the airport’s plans in order move them along quickly. – With the exception of the routine building permits, the airport’s plans have been approved. – The permits are on file and pending. “He’s just essentially trying to stir the pot,” said Burbank City Manager Bud Ovrom. “There’s no hint of the fact that we’ve been doing all we can to get these enhancements in place.” “All I’m trying to do is tie up a loose end,” Holden said. “I’m not blaming anyone. It wasn’t designed to be a blow-by-blow of everything that’s happening, just to say because of the delay in time, we aren’t blaming anybody. I think we’ll just have to let a little time pass and let cooler heads prevail.” Boy, it sure sounds like the good ol’ days again. Jacqueline Fox is politics reporter for the San Fernando Valley Business Journal. She can be reached at [email protected].

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