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Sheppard (Harrison) Secession Movements Collection
URB.HSS
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives
Title: Harrison Sheppard Secession Movements Collection
Creator:
Sheppard, Harrison
Identifier/Call Number: URB.HSS
Extent:
5.42 linear feet
Extent:
133 Megabytes
Date (inclusive): 1961-2002
Date (bulk): 2000-2002
Abstract: A native of New Jersey, Harrison
Sheppard worked as journalist and city editor for the
Daily
News
of Van Nuys, California, from 1999 to 2014, where he covered numerous
secession movements around Los Angeles in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The collection
documents Sheppard's work as a reporter for the
Daily News, and
covers the grassroots efforts of the citizens of the San Fernando Valley, Hollywood, and Los
Angeles' Harbor City area to secede and form independent cities between 1999 and
2002.
Language of Material: English,
Spanish; Castilian
A native of New Jersey, Harrison Sheppard worked as journalist and city editor for the
Daily News of Van Nuys, CA, from 1999 to 2014. He has also
written for several papers in the suburban Boston area and for the
Los
Angeles Times
. The
Daily News, founded in 1911,
focuses its news coverage on the San Fernando Valley. Sheppard's assignments for the
Daily News included serving as Sacramento Bureau Chief, as well as
covering Los Angeles City Hall, the Los Angeles Unified School District, and the San
Fernando Valley secession drive of 1999-2002.
The San Fernando Valley Secession drive was one of many secession movements that mobilized
in Los Angeles during the 2002 election cycle. While the secession movement in Los Angeles'
Harbor City area never made it onto a ballot, citizens of Los Angeles were able to vote on
Measures F and H, which would have allowed the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood,
respectively, to secede from Los Angeles and form their own cities. These secession
movements were generally opposed by the League of Women Voters, the Council of Religious
Leaders of Greater Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the Service
Employees International Union Local 347, and the Latino Coalition for a United Los Angeles.
While members of the different movements supported each other's goals, the character of each
movement was distinct, with Hollywood's movement driven largely by charismatic
individuals.
The secession movement in the San Fernando Valley was largely fueled by local business
associations, such as the United Chambers of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley, and was
also supported by the Republican Central Committee, the Woodland Hills Homeowners
Organization, Senator Tom McClintock, and the Mexican American Political Association. It
started in the relatively affluent and conservative western portion of the valley, while
opposition was strongest in the eastern section, which was home to a greater proportion of
Latinos, Democrats, and lower-income residents than other parts of the Valley. Voters in the
San Fernando Valley supported secession by a narrow margin, but both Measures F and H were
defeated by voters in greater Los Angeles.
The
Harrison Sheppard Secession Movements Collection documents
Sheppard's work as a reporter for the
Daily News of Van Nuys,
California, and covers the grassroots efforts of the citizens of the San Fernando Valley,
Hollywood, and Los Angeles' Harbor City area to secede and form independent cities between
1999 and 2002. The majority of the collection deals with the San Fernando Valley secession
movement, with fewer materials documenting secession movements in Hollywood and Harbor City.
The collection does not include Sheppard's notes, drafts of his news stories, or the
completed news stories themselves. The collection has been divided into two major series:
Reports and Proposals (1999-2002), and
Working Files (1961-2002).
Series I,
Reports and Proposals, documents official responses
to the secession movements in the San Fernando Valley, Hollywood, and the Harbor City area.
It contains fiscal analyses of the proposed reorganizations, maps of the regions before the
proposed secessions, reports on potential legal and financial liabilities, a report on the
potential impact of secession on low income residents, and redistricting proposals and maps.
Agencies producing these reports and proposals include the Local Agency Formation
Commission, City Hall and the Mayor of the City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Alliance for a
New Economy, and the UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education. The series is arranged
alphabetically.
Series II,
Working Files, documents the secession movements
through Sheppard's research, primarily through local and national news stories on the
movements, as well as articles on Valley secession movements of the 1960s and 1970s, and
Daily News articles 1996-1999. This series also contains
ballots and ballot statements, polls, election returns, press releases, agendas from debates
and meetings, memorabilia, and TV advertisements. This series also documents official and
unofficial responses to the movements, including statements from Mayor Hahn and city council
members opposing secession, and grassroots responses for and against secession. It also
contains campaign materials from the individuals who started the secession movements and
hoped to serve on the new city councils, including business owner Gene La Pietra and realtor
and journalist Pashree Sripipat for Hollywood; California State Assemblyman Keith Richman,
M.D. and political activist and businesswoman Terry Stone for the San Fernando Valley. The
series is arranged alphabetically.
Series I: Reports and Proposals, 1999-2002
Series II: Working Files, 1961-2002
For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style
manual, or see the
Citing Archival
Materials
guide.
The collection is open for research use.
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of
this collection has not been transferred to California State University, Northridge.
Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials
protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires
the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any
use rests exclusively with the user.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Harrison Sheppard
Philip Walsh, 2015
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Ephemera
Maps
Documents