The road to Camelot

摘要

Van nuys, according to Robert Red-ford, who grew up there, "was just this furnace that could destroy any creative thought that managed to creep into your mind." Scorn and derision have long been the lot of the suburban tracts of the San Fernando Valley, 222 square miles (575 square kilometres) that make up the northern 45% of the city of Los Angeles. But the mall-thronged butt of "Valley-Girl" jokes has finally had it with mockery: its residents have grabbed a chance to assert their independence. That chance will come in a ballot on November 5th on whether or not the Valley should formally split itself off from the rest of Los Angeles and become a separate city. More than injured pride is at stake. For years the Valley, cut off from the rest of the city by the Santa Monica Mountains, has received less in municipal services, such as public transport, than its residents have paid in city taxes. And even if it were receiving its fair share of services, the big city does an inefficient job at providing them.