The thing I enjoyed most about Sonenshein's presentation was how down to earth he was about everything! I have also, always found it kind of curious how confused people get over which city they call home. My mom grew up in Woodland Hills (in the western part of "The Valley"), but never realized that she actually lived in Los Angeles city limits. Curiously, however, she lived outside the boundaries of LAUSD, and so was bused to her High School in Agoura (outside the city limits). I know that I have overheard people saying that they wish they could vote in L.A. city elections, but they can't because they live in Northridge. What is even curiouser is the amount of "movers and shakers" who live in Santa Monica, not in Los Angeles. Especially curious is when these Santa Monicans criticize the "suburbanites" who inhabit the San Gabriel Valley for their commuter related pollution and traffic, yet they, themselves, often commute the 15 miles eastward to downtown (or beyond). I can definitely understand why there have desires to secede, but, as Sonenshein pointed out, the city, technically, owns the infrastructure, so seceding creates a huge problem...It seems that this problem stems partially from what Michael Dear kept pointing out: that Los Angeles isn't (and never really was) the traditional, centrally oriented city.