Lakewood Plan Creates Cities Through Municipal Contracting Arrangements

摘要

Are contract cities suburban success stories or merely "phantom cities"? The controversy continues as the City of Lakewood enters its 50th year. Only a few days after the 1954 election that incorporated Lakewood as the nation's first "city by contract," Los Angeles County Counsel Harold Kennedy wavered in his support. He wanted the state Legislature to give explicit authority to the new city to provide municipal services by contract. Incorporation supporters in Lakewood held their breath, knowing that their city depended on contracting with Los Angeles County. They waited for word from Sacramento that state legislators ― despite opposition from some cities with annexation ambitions ― had voted to give Lakewood a future.