East L.A. ready, financially, for independence - A new study finds that the community could support itself as a city, but some question the conclusions.
East Los Angeles could support itself as an independent city, according to a new report, boosting the latest effort to convert the unincorporated Mexican American cultural mecca into its own municipality.
Since 1961, supporters have tried three times to bring cityhood to the storied Latino community, and now the fourth movement seems to be gathering steam. This time, advocates say, the numbers prove a city of "East Los" could thrive.
The fiscal analysis, by an independent economic consultant, provides the most revealing financial picture to date of the area, according to cityhood organizers, who paid $25,000 for the report. A city of East Los Angeles could generate at least $48 million in projected annual revenue to support its own city council and such services as street upkeep, the study said.
Financial viability is crucial to a successful cityhood drive, which would transfer much of the decision-making authority from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to a locally elected council.
Supervisor Gloria Molina, whose district includes East Los Angeles, remains neutral on the cityhood question and skeptical about the finances, despite the report.
"It's very, very glamorous to think about a city incorporating itself," said Molina, who wants further study and clarification. "Can it sustain itself? That's the real question."
Covering less than eight square miles, the city of East Los Angeles would be home to an estimated 135,000 residents, making it the 10th-largest city in the county. It still would pay the county to provide law enforcement, fire protection, traffic enforcement and animal control services, according to the report by Burr Consulting.
Because of reduced overhead costs, the city of East Los Angeles would pay only $13 million for law enforcement, compared with the $24 million the county spends for Sheriff's Department protection there now, the study found. The Sheriff's Department, however, questions that finding: "People usually contract with us because their overhead costs are reduced dramatically without reducing the quality of law enforcement," said sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore.
Residents of the city of East Los Angeles might pay more for trash pickup.
What would change most dramatically, according to backers of the effort, would be East L.A.'s ability to shape its destiny.
