East L.A. cityhood drive

A desire for greater independence is stirring among the owners of Whittier Boulevard's panaderias and auto shops much as it did among gentleman tobacco farmers and tradesmen in bustling seaports of Colonial America. Rachel Uranga in the Daily News.

Two hundred thirty-two years after the Founding Fathers signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence, Oscar Gonzales and a handful of officials and community leaders launched their own independence drive Friday to create the city of East Los Angeles.

"East Los Angeles has been an ATM machine for the rest of the county," said Gonzales, president of East Los Angeles Residents Association.