Executive Summary
It would take a miracle or San Fernando Valley and Hollywood secession to even come close to knocking Los Angeles out of its spot as the largest city in L.A. County.
Major swings on a list of this nature are not to be expected, and the changes this year reflect incremental shifts in population. Both Lancaster and Palmdale, respectively last year’s Nos. 8 and 9, added population, but Palmdale’s additional 7,047 residents were enough to boost it to No. 8.
The other change was Santa Monica’s climb to No. 20 from 21 with the addition of 3,870, surpassing Hawthorne, where the population grew by 2,259.
In all, according to state statistics, the population of each of the largest cities in the county increased, driving the county’s total to more than 9.8 million people.
With the increased population have come the appurtenant rises in housing costs and traffic congestion, old issues with which the cities and county continue to struggle.
Jonathan Diamond
The Pacesetter
Los Angeles
With its 3.7 million residents, Los Angeles long has been the 800-pound gorilla of the county’s 88 cities, often setting the tone and the agenda for the entire county.
Los Angeles would lose some of that dominance if secession measures for the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood, together containing 1.6 million residents, survive the Nov. 5 ballot.
The campaigns have faltered in recent weeks, and recent polls indicate that neither the San Fernando Valley nor Hollywood is likely to garner citywide majorities necessary to secede. Indeed, Hollywood secession appears unlikely to pass within the proposed city limits.
While the city appears to have dodged the secession bullet, its budget picture remains shaky. Through some pre-emptive cuts and an unexpected boost from the city’s booming real estate market, a projected $250 million budget deficit that loomed earlier this year was trimmed to a mere $40 million. But with the economy still weak and further cuts looming from Sacramento, next year’s budget promises to be just as challenging, if not more so.
Meanwhile, the city’s experiment in more localized government is being put to the test. Enacted with charter reform three years ago, more than 40 neighborhood councils have been certified; dozens more are in the pipeline.
The coming year will also see the complete imposition of term limits as the last group of councilmembers voted into office before term limits took effect are ushered out.
Howard Fine
