Some Van Nuys residents who live in the southern part of the neighborhood have embarked on a mission to annex into Sherman Oaks, the tonier Valley neighborhood to the south. The residents, who call their group 'Part of Sherman Oaks,' argue that they already shop and work in Sherman Oaks, and send their kids to Sherman Oaks schools. The two neighborhoods are both incorporated in the City of Los Angeles, but were individual cities before LA's water-related annexation in the 1940s. Their taxes go to LA and their municipal services come from LA but they often use their neighborhood name on their addresses. The area, bounded by Sepulveda Blvd, Oxnard Blvd, Burbank Blvd, and Hazeltine Ave, houses some 18,000 residents.
The southern area of Van Nuys is notably nicer than the rest of that neighborhood, so it makes sense that they would want to identify more with their ritzier sister to the south. The Metro Orange line, and the industrial train tracks that preceded it, is the defining boundary of Van Nuys' two halves. It is true that lines like railroad tracks can form unforgiving urban boundaries, but wasn't Metro's landscaped transitway supposed to cleave the area's opposing neighborhoods?
It sounds like the case of an insecure child who, having been handed into the custody of one parent after a divorce, longs to be with the other parent simply because she is prettier. The upscale residents of south Van Nuys want to rid themselves of the associations of crime, filth, and disrepair that come with that neighborhood. But calling themselves something else isn't going to get rid of those problems. Instead, if the switch happens, Van Nuys will lose some of the important funding and attention that come to that city district. Funding and attention that Sherman Oaks would hardly benefit from. Just seven years after the failed Valley secession movement, some Valley residents just can't get enough gerrymandering.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Van Nuys Residents Fight to be 'Part of Sherman Oaks'
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2 comments:
First of all, the area of Van Nuys that wishes to secede does not have 18,000 residents. It has approximately 5,000 people according to records. This is under 5% of the entire population of Van Nuys.
Secondly, you claim that the Orange line and train track are the "defining boundary of Van Nuys' two halves. Our section of Van Nuys could hardly be considered "half". We're just 3 blocks deep and only stretch from Sepulveda to Hazeltine. Van Nuys extends very far north, north of Saticoy, perhaps to Roscoe.
Third, the neighborhood name change has no impact whatsoever on funding, let's disspell this myth. Neighborhood councils do not have real "budgets" with which to work. Sherman Oaks' municipal funding, and Van Nuys', comes from the City and State's General Funds. It is not based on borders or population density. Nor would property taxes change for the neighborhood wishing to beomce Sherman Oaks.
Fourth, please do not infantilize our community by likening us to an "insecure child". If the author of this article spent even an hour in our neighborhood, walking its streets, then crossing Burbank south to "Sherman Oaks", s/he would see that there is no distinction between our neighborhood and Sherman Oaks. We are a contiguous community and know neighbors on both sides of the "border". That is not true if you look at the community to the north. You must travel at least 1/3 mile north from Califa to find another single family home.
The borders make no sense and never have. Our section was not included in the 1992 Sherman Oaks boundary change simply by oversight.
Lastly, you may call it gerrymandering. We call it community identity and self-determination. Don't confuse our effort with the failed Valley secession movement, because these issues are totally unrelated. If it was, we'd be lobbying to be part of Orange County, where at least there aren't any potholes in the roads.
There are many of us in Van Nuys that oppose the name change of this area to Sherman Oaks. We believe that if every 'good ' neighborhood or 'well kept' neighborhood is allowed to seceed from Van Nuys, that it will condem Van Nuys to the barrio reputation it already has.
The people of this secession movement are primarily concerned with their own property values and care not for the rest of their community. I live in Van Nuys and send my kids to school in Sherman Oaks. I also shop in Sherman Oaks, but I do not ask to make my area a part of Sherman Oaks.
Please hear the silent majority and do not allow Van Nuys to feel like she's abandoned section by section.
The City Council is disregarding your opinion and the opinion of Sherman Oaks residents. They are also disregarding the vote of the Van Nuys Neighborhood Assoc.
Please bring this up to your group and have people write to and email the Los Angeles City Council members to prevent this secession. They are trying to make money off the good Sherman Oaks name and leave their own community in the dust.
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