82.1 F
San Fernando
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

TIMES–Secessionists Hope Tribune Will Be Kinder

While some may mourn the sale of the Los Angeles Times to the Chicago-based Tribune Co., secessionists are hoping the proposed merger will soften what they see as the Times’ steadfast opposition to a municipal breakup. Leaders of Valley Organized Toward Empowerment (VOTE) and others view the Times as one of their movement’s most powerful foes, and they hope the Tribune Co., as the out-of-town owner, will sit out the looming battle over the city’s breakup. “The Times has been probably the most significant opponent of Valley cityhood,” said Richard Close, VOTE’s chairman. “When the management shifts from L.A. to Chicago, I think we’re going to see a change.” Valley business and community leaders expressed shock that the Times, a Los Angeles institution controlled by the Chandler family for 118 years, is to be sold. “It’s sad to see this happen,” said David Fleming, an attorney who chairs the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley. “I think it’s going to take a while for people to realize the second largest city in America doesn’t have a paper headquartered in Los Angeles.” But in the quirky world of cityhood politics, the Times is viewed as part of a shadowy power elite that has sought to make downtown the focal point of L.A. at the expense of the Valley and other areas of the city. The Times and the Chandler family were instrumental in promoting downtown as the area’s business and government center, and the paper championed the development of a multibillion-dollar subway system centered there. “The Chandler family regarded downtown L.A. as Rome, and all roads lead there, but downtown is only one part of L.A.,” said Fleming. Joel Kotkin, a senior fellow with the Pepperdine Institute for Public Policy, believes there is some truth to the conspiracy theories. The Times was part of the “old establishment” that ran downtown for decades, he said. Kotkin believes the sale of the Times, which has taken a strong stance against secession in its editorial pages, could result in a boost for the cityhood movement. “It could eliminate one of the secession movement’s most entrenched enemies,” he said. The Times has long been viewed by secessionists and others as trying to thwart Valley autonomy. Mark Willes, publisher of the Los Angeles Times and chairman of Times Mirror Co., served on the Los Angeles Business Advisors’ charter reform steering committee when it decided to help finance a campaign to block any effort by the City Charter Reform Commission to create elected neighborhood councils in Los Angeles. “Sixteen of us (Valley VOTE supporters) met with Willes at one point, and it was clear he was vehemently opposed to Valley cityhood,” said Close. “He was extremely knowledgeable about the situation but emotionally and intellectually he was strongly opposed to it.” In contrast, the Daily News of Los Angeles, a 200,000-circulation newspaper based in Woodland Hills but run by an out-of-town newspaper chain, is a longtime advocate in its editorials for increased San Fernando Valley autonomy. If an independent city were created in the Valley, the Daily News could position itself as the hometown paper. In fact, the Daily News contributed $60,000 to Valley VOTE’s petition drive for secession in 1998 and only announced the gift in its news pages after Times reporters got wind of the donation and began calling Valley VOTE and Daily News officials for comment. As a result of successful petition drives in the Valley and Harbor areas, the Local Agency Formation Commission has undertaken a $1.4 million study that will look at the economic ramifications to all sides from a city breakup. The study, which is actually being done by a consulting company called Pacific Financial Management Inc., is expected to be finished in 22 months. If LAFCO agrees to allow secession to move forward, the issue could go to voters by 2002. Fleming and others concede it’s too early to tell if the Times’ stance on secession will change under Tribune management, but he suspects it might. “Now the Times is going to be controlled by headquarters 2,000 miles away. It just occurs to me the Tribune people might be much more open to the idea (of an independent Valley city),” he said. Fleming and others asserted that the pending sale symbolizes downtown’s decline, while the Valley has increased its political and economic power. If the sale goes through, downtown would lose one of its last two major corporate headquarters. Atlantic Richfield Co. is expected to follow suit if its merger with BP Amoco is approved. The Valley boasts three Fortune 500 headquarters, the Walt Disney Co. in Burbank and Litton Industries and Foundation Health Systems in Woodland Hills, and dozens of other well-capitalized companies. “(The Times buyout is) symbolic of the rising importance of the San Fernando Valley (and the Valley’s emergence) as a major force, politically and economically,” said Close. “We have entertainment and technology companies, and politically more than 50 percent of the vote in L.A. was from the San Fernando Valley in the last election. These are major shifts of empowerment for the Valley.” Jack Kyser, chief economist for the L.A. County Economic Development Corp., cautioned against gloating about downtown’s loss of stature. The region’s economy is closely intertwined, so if downtown gets characterized by the media as a ghost town, the negative publicity could spill over into the Valley and other areas, he said. “Everybody loves to throw stones at downtown because it’s very symbolic,” said Kyser. “But you don’t want to wish other sections of the county ill.”

Featured Articles

Related Articles