A Long Beach Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand
Two neighborhoods about to secede from LA County
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Two Long Beach neighborhoods are about to secede from Los Angeles County.
Residents may support the secession of two Long Beach neighborhoods, but it could come down to dollars and cents to get out of Los Angeles County.
If approved, a proposal from the Orange County Local Agency Formation would readjust the LA/OC border. The plan was introduced after the Coyote Creek Flood Channel shifted, changing the county border, the OC Register reported.
At a City Council meeting on Tuesday, dozens of people voiced support for the plan, the Press-Telegram reported:
"I identify myself with being a Long Beach resident, I love being a Long Beach resident, I love Long Beach," said Mary Varipapa, a resident of Island Village in southeast Long Beach, which could be annexed by Seal Beach. But after living on the east side of the San Gabriel River for 10 years, her connection with Long Beach has waned, she said.
"In that 10 years, without trying to, my life has become Seal Beach, just by geography," Varipapa said. "By geography, I go to church in Seal Beach, I go to the beach in Seal Beach, I shop in Seal Beach."
But it'll take more than a waning love affair with Long Beach to let the secession go down. Deputy City Manager Reggie Harrison says the loss of Island Village and Imperial Estates could mean big fiscal loses for Long Beach, the Press Telegram reported:
Doing so would cost Long Beach $251,998 in annual property tax and other revenues from Imperial Estates and $343,021 from Island Village, he said.
Another property that city staff was against losing in annexation is a power plant east of the San Gabriel River that produces $10 million in gas franchise fee revenue for the city.
The annexation must be approved by both cities and the Orange and Los Angeles boards of supervisors.
