East L.A. weighs cityhood

Harlem is to the black community.

Now it wants to become its own city.

Commonly mistaken for a part of Los Angeles, East L.A. is actually an unincorporated section of Los Angeles County, with more than 130,000 people - 96 percent of them Hispanic - packed into 7.4 square miles.

Cityhood proponents complain that East L.A. is treated as an afterthought by the county Board of Supervisors, and they want the community to take charge of its own destiny.

“We’re a nationally branded area,” said Diana Tarango, vice president of the East Los Angeles Residents Association, the prime backer of the effort. “We should be making our own decisions about planting trees on the street or putting up light poles.”

For decades, East L.A. has been a first stop for immigrants just over the border, though these days there are nearly as many Salvadoran pupuserias selling filled tortilla patties as Mexican taquerias selling tacos.

In the 1960s and ’70s, the community was the focus of the burgeoning Chicano civil rights movement. In 1970, police and thousands of Chicano Cesar Chavez, the migrant farmworker leader.

The bid for cityhood marks East L.A.’s fourth attempt at incorporation since 1961; the last one was in 1974. Miss Tarango and others say the movement failed because of political infighting.

Rep. Grace F. Napolitano, California Democrat, who supports cityhood, said she is encouraged this time because residents are well organized and informed.

“It has a great chance of passing,” said the congresswoman, whose district includes East L.A. “But they will need to allay fears that incorporation will mean an increase in property taxes.”

Voters probably won’t get their say on cityhood for two years while the issue wends its way through the bureaucratic and political process.

The residents association must first submit a petition by December asking a county commission to conduct a study on whether a city of East L.A. would have an adequate tax base. So far, organizers have collected about half the 10,000 signatures needed, said Oscar Gonzales Jr., association president.

Mr. Gonzales said he expects the study will be favorable; a similar report ordered up by the residents association found the city would generate $51 million in revenue, well above an expected budget of $45 million.

If the bid for cityhood passes muster with the study commission and the county supervisors, the question will be put to the voters of East L.A. The supervisors are not taking a position until they see the study.

Some East L.A. residents fear cityhood will cost them more. They worry that mom-and-pop stores that now manage to operate without business licenses might be forced to obtain them.

“I think it’s good as it is,” said Jacob Salazar, owner of a sporting goods store. “I don’t see any reason to change it.”

But supporters say a city council would be more responsive than the county supervisors.

“The county is huge. Each supervisor has 2.1 million people,” said auto dealer East Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. “We’re sort of like a lost child.”