Abstract: Are these attempts to secede from the City of Los Angeles a good idea? What is the idea? Is secession a form of privatization—an effort to isolate some parts of the City of Los Angeles from the problems found in others? Or is it the opposite, an example of what one might call publicazation—an attempt to reinvigorate local democracy by bringing government closer to its constituents? Any answer to these questions will be controversial. Even my use of the word "secession" is controversial. Those in favor of the process don't use the word. Neither does the governing statute. Instead they describe what is going on as a "special reorganization" (a process that allows "detachment" and the creation of the new city simultaneously.) Given this level of controversy, this Article cannot resolve the secession issue. I simply offer a way to think about it.