Latino neighborhoods in the U.S. — New York’s El Barrio, San Francisco’s Mission District, and East Los Angeles – often seem to visitors like cities unto themselves because of their uniqueness, culture and community feel. “East Los” wants to turn that “feel” into something tangible by becoming an city independent from Los Angeles, and this week they have taken the first steps towards accomplishing this goal. Reports The Los Angeles Times:

…on Friday, the community took a major step toward gaining independence. County officials announced that backers had gathered enough signatures for the cityhood process to formally begin. Boosters hope residents will cast ballots on the question in 2010.

First, a major study has to confirm what a much smaller, earlier study asserted: that the neighborhood of 140,000 can sustain itself economically as what would be L.A. County’s 10th-largest city.

On Friday, supporters who were gathered along Whittier Boulevard said they were confident of victory, even as they prepared to go door to door to raise $100,000 to pay for the study.

11,000 people signed the petition for East L.A.’s cityhood, getting the cause past its first big hurdle.

The last time cityhood for East L.A. was attempted was back in 1974. Supporters say it’s necessary that East Los become a city because it has no local governance (and therefore no government accountability) and its 127,000 residents live under the auspices of a county official which represents over 2 million constituents.

Via / L.A. Times and Cityhood for East L.A.

Image via ikkoskinen on Flickr