Lawrence Joe, staff member of the Los Angeles City Redistricting Committee, attended the January 7th Empowerment West Congress meeting to explain redistricting.  As a result of 2010’s U.S. Census, the 3.8 million increase in the city’s population is unevenly distributed.  Some areas decreased and some grew.  The goal of redistricting is to equalize the numbers in all Council Districts to 252,847 people per district.

 Another goal of redistricting is to group together ‘communities of interest’.  Damien Goodmon, co-Chair of the ECWANDC, explained how the Korean community used this idea to plead its case for Council District unity at the CD 10 meeting.  That community doesn’t care which CD it eventually joins, as long as it remains in solely one District

 Mr. Joe explained that ethnicity is a valid reason for creating new boundaries, and is encouraged.  The communities of interest are mean to reflect different organizations that need to remain together.  Because Los Angeles offers non-partisan voting, Council Districts aren’t benefited along party lines since anyone can vote for any candidate.  The targeted population in each district is based on head count, not voting affiliation.

 Maps have not been proposed yet.  Here’s the date rundown:

January 10 --  Last redistricting for Council District 8

January 11 --  Commission will begin using Public comments and map suggestions

January 17 --  Last date for public comments from organized groups 

January 26 --  Target date to release the draft maps.  (Another series of hearings will be announced to finalize the boundaries.)

March 1 -- Final maps will be submitted to the City Council and the Redistricting Committee will be disbanded. 

July 1 -- The City Council will present the final maps to the public

 The rapid pace requires immediate participation.  Meetings have been going on since Spring of 2011; Council District 10’s meeting was on January 3.  The need to rapidly submit  boundaries prompted Mr. Goodmon to solicit the Board’s members for suggestions.  Stakeholder Ms. Malveaux suggested the historical West Adams boundaries as a good start, to which most attendees agreed. Spirited discussion between the Board and stakeholders acknowledged the need to inform the area’s residents of the meeting’s importance and ECWANDC’s decision, which will be done while the Board proceeds.

 To answer the question of whether the public's suggestions would be adhered to, Mr. Joe replied the open process used for 2011 is the most transparent it’s ever been.  The Internet has created an open environment to distribute meetings, agendas, and locations.  Hopefully, with so much community involvement, the City Council “can’t backdoor the process” and the boundaries that each neighborhood defines for itself will be maintained.

  The historic West Adams boundaries were chosen to fight the City’s tradition to use public transportation such as the 10 Freeway and, now, the Expo and future LAX trains to configure the community.  The West Adams community map extends as far North as Venice Boulevard and South to Inglewood, which is currently a part of CD 8.  The Eastern boundary would extend to Arlington and West to La Cienega.  Currently CD 10 bisects Baldwin Village and, although a sliver of Crenshaw houses CD 8’s offices, Crenshaw Manor is included in CD 10.  The patchwork of neighborhoods created by the Council members in 2001 was seemingly done with little regard towards keeping communities whole.

 How to participate:

*  Attend the final meeting on Tuesday, January 10 at 6:30 p.m.

Expo Center

3980 Bill Robertson Lane

Los Angeles, CA 90037

*  Even if you cannot attend the final meeting, please visit the two main redistricting websites to voice your opinion.

-  The Public Opinion Document needs to be into the Redistricting Office no later than 1/17 for groups, sooner for individuals.  Other languages are available.  Please print the form for your neighbors and explain the importance of their participation.

-  Use the interactive tools to draw your vision of your Council District at Redraw L.A.  You can view current district maps at this sight, too.

*  Continue to participate when the Draft Maps are released

Websites to visit:  http://redistricting2011.lacity.org and http://www.redrawla.org/