Los Angeles City Council begins its part of the redistribution process – Los Angeles Sentinel | Los Angeles Sentinel

This map outlines the district boundaries recommended by the Redistribution Commission. (laccrc2021.org)

The Los Angeles City Council will begin its part of the reallocation process today with a presentation by the City Council’s Reallocation Commission and a vote on the establishment of an ad hoc reallocation committee.

The Redistricting Commission used data from the U.S. census to update the city’s counties, with each city council member representing approximately 260,000 people. The council now has the option to make changes to the map before the final boundaries for the 15 counties go into effect on January 1st.

City Council President Nury Martinez said the drastic changes proposed by the commission had “confused and alienated thousands” and that the city “cannot move forward sensibly” with the proposed map.

“It is clear that too many voices have yet to be heard across town and that we have an immovable deadline,” said Martinez. “We cannot move forward sensibly on a map that raises concerns among so many marginalized communities if it will affect the lives of all Angelenos for the next decade. If we are to build a stronger and fairer Los Angeles, we need a map that reflects that. “

On October 21, the City Council’s Redistricting Commission voted to finalize its recommendations for a draft map of the revised district boundaries, but failed to specify which district would be District 2 and which would be District 4. City council members from these two districts, Paul Krekorian and Nithya Raman, backed Martinez’s motion to create an ad hoc redistricting commission, which will be dealt with on Tuesday.

The draft map submitted by the 21-person commission had already been criticized by Raman and Krekorian for drastically redefining their districts, and according to the recommendations, one of them would end up with completely new voters in the western San Fernando Valley.

Raman represents parts of Silver Lake, Los Feliz, Hollywood Hills, Hancock Park and Sherman Oaks, among others. Krekorian represents the East San Fernando Valley neighborhoods, including North Hollywood, Studio City, and Sun Valley.

The draft map sent to the council would include either Krekorian or Raman, representing a borough that spanned parts of their two current boroughs – the Hollywood Hills, North Hollywood, Valley Glen, and part of Los Feliz. The other would represent a completely new district with the areas of Canoga Park, Winnetka, Reseda and Lake Balboa in the west of the San Fernando Valley.

Martinez said the council will work to ensure the map “gets all parishes and angelenos right,” but there are demands, including from the redistribution commission, that the city council be removed from the redistribution process in the coming years.

Los Angeles Attorney Mike Feuer, as part of his mayoral campaign and the Redistricting Committee, called for a fully independent body to be appointed to redefine the boroughs in 2031.

“Power over the council’s borders must be in the hands of the people – not self-serving politicians who control the process behind the scenes to protect their power,” Feuer said on Monday.

“It has gotten so bad that the commissioners themselves support my proposal for a truly independent body to develop districts. And halving council districts will bring council members much closer to the communities they serve, resulting in the more responsive and responsible leadership voters who so desperately want. ”

California Common Cause, a nonprofit that works to promote democracy in the state, also called for the redistribution process to be removed from the hands of the council. “A redistribution process controlled by politicians in the background is fundamentally flawed,” said Jonathan Mehta Stein, executive director of California Common Cause.

“Despite our repeated calls for greater independence and transparency, the city council has deliberately ignored these calls to ensure that they and their staff can continue to manipulate the process to their advantage.

This dynamic will never serve the interests of the electorate. It is time for the city of Los Angeles to follow the state and county and form a fully independent redistribution commission. ”The city council will begin the redistribution process on Tuesday at 10am. People can watch at clerk.lacity.org/calendar.