Senator Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, and Assemblyman Tom Lackey, R- Palmdale, submitted a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday urging him to give north county cities in Los Angeles County the ability to create their own Regional Recovery Plan and move to the next stage of his Resilience Roadmap and reopen.

“One size does not fit all when it comes to COVID-19 and the communities it has impacted. The governor already acknowledged that reality when he allowed counties to create their own recovery plans,” said Wilk in a statement. “Today we are requesting that the governor apply that same logic in Los Angeles County – which is the size of Michigan. The high desert portion of the County, which we represent, is being unfairly impacted by L.A. County’s continuing stay at home order.”

The statement comes as a reaction to the announcement that the City of Santa Clarita has joined Lancaster and Palmdale in petitioning the County of Los Angles for the ability to create their own tailored reopening plan.

“The cities of Lancaster, Palmdale and Santa Clarita are more rural and sprawling than their highly populated counterparts to the South and should not be held hostage while the City of L.A. works to get control of the virus,” Wilk said. “The Resilience Roadmap lays out a path for safe and responsible reopening of the state. North L.A. County should be able to use this Roadmap and call the shots on a safe and responsible reopening.”

Assemblyman Lackey joined his fellow representative in the request.

“I support a balanced, science-based approach to managing the consequences of this severe pandemic. The high desert portion of Los Angeles County is dramatically different than the basin in the landscape, transportation considerations, and population density,” said Lackey. “Our region deserves a separate timetable for reopening.”

Santa Clarita Mayor Cameron Smyth wrote a letter, on behalf of the entire City Council, to Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger formally opposing the “Safer at Home” order extension.

“Looking at the data available for the three cities in the North County region, total cases have reached 1,494 or only 4.3 percent of the County’s total. The North County is also geographically larger and separated from the other areas of the County with a combined population of just over 525,000 residents. This combined population is greater than 74 percent of the 58 counties in the entire State of California,” Smyth said in the letter.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger has asked Los Angeles County council and the Department of Public Health to provide an analysis of any variances that would enable cities, if possible, in Los Angeles County to meet their own benchmarks and move to the next stage of reopening.

“I think it’s important for cities to be able to meet their own benchmarks and safely reopen so they are not dependent only on the county,” Barger said.

To read the letter click here.

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