Posted on 07/27/2002 7:02:01 AM PDT by SCalGal
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume the separate and equal station to which the laws of this nation and the vision of our forefathers entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
As our nation's founders themselves declared, we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all people are created equal; that they are endowed with certain unalienable rights; and that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. To secure these rights, governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. As has been the foundation of our very nation's existence, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government.
Our forefathers also wisely observed that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes, but only when a long train of abuses and usurpations have gone uncorrected. In such a case, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government. The people of the thirteen original colonies found themselves in such a situation under King George III, and the people of the San Fernando Valley today find themselves in just such a situation under the despotic rule of a distant and uncaring Los Angeles City Hall. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world:
The relationship between the City of Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley has been the subject of the most detailed audit of any local government in history. Conducted by an independent state agency, the audit found that the San Fernando Valley currently pays $128 million more each year to the City of Los Angeles than the Valley receives in services. For more than 85 years, this systematic shortchanging of Valley residents has been evidenced in numerous ways that deprive our citizens of the high quality of life they have paid their government leaders to provide and have a right to expect in return.
The Valley receives half the number of police officers per person than the rest of the city receives. Despite the Valley constituting nearly half of the area of Los Angeles, it has only five police stations while the rest of Los Angeles has thirteen.
* The City of Los Angeles has provided no major museums in the Valley.
* The Valley has half the number of libraries as have been located in the remainder of Los Angeles.
* The Valley is without a mass transit system while the remaining city has an extensive system, paid for in large part by taxes from Valley residents.
* Federal and State grants obtained by the City of Los Angeles are routinely not allocated to the Valley residents or communities.
As our forefathers did before us, we have for decades petitioned for redress of these inequities. The city has demonstrated time and again its inability to reform itself by returning decision making to local communities and being held accountable to local voters. Our petitions have not only gone unanswered, they have resulted in scorn and ridicule from a tyrannical City Hall, led by a modern-day King George, Mayor James Hahn.
Much like King George, Mayor Hahn requires subjects (constituents) to swear loyalty to the City before granting petitions for redress. Only in recent weeks, with the threat of secession as a prompt, has the mayor acquiesced to meet with local citizens to address problems and directed city departments to respond to longstanding complaints.
We, therefore, on behalf of the people of the San Fernando Valley, appealing to our fellow citizens for the rectitude of our intentions, do hereby solemnly declare that we are withdrawing our consent to be governed by this distant and disrespectful Los Angeles City Hall. We further appeal to our citizens throughout the city of Los Angeles to stand shoulder to shoulder with the San Fernando Valley as it institutes a new city government, one that is responsive to the Valley's needs, one that is respectful of the Valley's wishes, one that derives its power from the very people who will hold its leaders accountable for improving our quality of life. In supporting the Valley in this just and fair cause, Los Angeles residents will further their own interests in turn. From South Central to the Harbor area, from Westchester to the West side and to the Eastside, all of Los Angeles will forever more be able to demand more attention and accountability from City Hall.
Let notice be served, let history take note, the people do hereby reclaim their government.
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