Group Says Asian Americans’ Jobs Could Be Jeopardized by Secession

A new group called Asians for a United L.A. announced Tuesday it will oppose secession, arguing that breaking up Los Angeles would likely worsen the lives of Asian Americans, especially recent immigrants and the working poor.

Secession advocates disagreed, saying they believe a municipal breakup would create more efficient government that would help all residents, regardless of ethnicity.

At a news conference with Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn, city Public Works Commissioner Ron Low--a past president of the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Assn.--said Asian Americans who work for the city could be jeopardized by secession.

He said 1,400 of the 6,200 Asian Americans in the City Hall work force had been hired in the last few years and would lack seniority to protect their jobs if secession led to cuts.

“Secession is not a good thing for the Asian-Pacific American community,” Low said. “No one can guarantee the new cities would adopt programs that provide outreach to minority and women businesses so they can compete at the public trough.”

Low and more than 40 other Asian American community leaders appeared with Hahn at the Korean Education Complex in Koreatown.

“The reality is that if the Valley and Hollywood break off, the Asian-Pacific American community will be left behind in a city that would have diminished clout in Sacramento and Washington,” Hahn said.

Curtis C. Jung, chairman of the Asian Business League of Southern California, added that his community would be especially harmed if the breakup led to tax and fee increases because Asian Americans represent a disproportionate share of the city’s small-business owners.

Stewart Kwoh, executive director of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, said a breakup could cause other problems. Valley city Asian Americans would probably not get the same multi-language services that they receive from Los Angeles, and their political influence would be diminished, he said.

Asian Americans make up 10% of the population in Los Angeles, but would account for 8.7% of the population in a Valley city.

Richard Close, chairman of Valley VOTE, said the issue is one of making city government work for all people, regardless of race, so “Hahn’s continuous focus on ethnicity creates problems.”

The secession leader said the news conference gives the false impression that the Asian American community is united against Valley cityhood. But Valley VOTE includes Asian American activists, and two have filed papers to run for a Valley city council, he said.

Groups that have endorsed secession include the Filipino-American Chamber of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley.

Meanwhile, the San Fernando Valley Independence Committee said that Joel Fox, ex-president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., has joined the secession group as an analyst and advisor.