Drawing upon a rich history of activism and a nagging sense of neglect, residents and leaders of East Los Angeles have launched a campaign for incorporation, a move that would create a new city in a historic center of Mexican American culture.
The drive for East L.A. cityhood has grown from nascent to palpable in recent months, and advocates believe their goal, which many have nurtured for a generation, at last could be within reach.
Over the last few months, cityhood has been the subject of spirited community meetings -- more than 300 people turned out for one session late last year -- and increasingly active political talks. Just last week, leaders of the effort met with county officials to analyze the tax consequences of incorporation. Petitions could begin to circulate this spring, and it's possible that voters could consider the question later this year.
East Los Angeles: An article in Sunday's California section about a drive for cityhood in East Los Angeles misspelled the name of the 1960s musical group Thee Midniters as Thee Midnighters. In addition, the article stated that journalist Ruben Salazar was killed 27 years ago. He was killed 37 years ago.
East Los Angeles: An article in the Feb. 4 California section about a drive for cityhood in East Los Angeles misspelled the name of the 1960s musical group Thee Midniters as Thee Midnighters. The article also said journalist Ruben Salazar was killed 27 years ago. He was killed 37 years ago.
If they are successful, East L.A. would become a city of roughly 140,000 people, one of the 10 largest in Los Angeles County and one of the most overwhelmingly Mexican American cities in the United States. More important for many of those who believe in cityhood, its success would validate East L.A.'s long-standing place in the neighborhood culture of Los Angeles rather than continue its existence as a scrap of unincorporated land left behind as cities around it took shape.
State Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), a leading proponent of the idea, says she has been struck by the intensity of the emotional response to it.
"This has engaged the community," Romero said last week. "The demographics are there. The history is there. The reason is there."
For many in East L.A., the promise of cityhood is long overdue. Indeed, for such a small slice of Greater Los Angeles -- the community covers less than 10 square miles bordered by Boyle Heights and Monterey Park, Commerce and Montebello -- East L.A. has made a sizable name for itself.
It is a thriving source of cultural life, a community as identifiable and coherent as the many others that make up modern Los Angeles: Hollywood or Bel-Air, say, or Van Nuys, Watts, Boyle Heights, Leimert Park or Mount Washington.
Given its demographics, East L.A. is politically significant as a laboratory for the growing electoral clout of Latinos, particularly Mexican Americans.
