L.A. city council redistricting

[Brian]

The Los Angeles City Council Redistricting Commission released its first map last week. Looks like there's no way we'd get to keep Paul Krekorian, who may get a dense and compact southeastern district in the Valley, far from us in Tujunga. Ironically, our proposed Council District 07 looks remarkably like the First Council District I lived in from birth in 1958 until the death of Howard Finn in 1986 -- except for Shadow Hills and La Tuna Canyon, which would be part of CD 06. The line is drawn at Interstate 210.

The Foothills Redistricting Group has met twice since the maps came out, and they will be at the commission's special meeting on Saturday at Pierce College. According to local activist Joe Barrett, sixth district Councilman Tony Cardenas would love to have us. Meanwhile, here's the commission's home page:

redistricting2011.lacity.org/LACITY/default.html

[Brian]

Anni learned about the Foothills Redistricting Group from the Sunland-Tujunga Bluenecks on Facebook and signed up for Joe Barrett's excellent e-mails, which she forwards to me. Joe sent out a 10-page PDF to submit before Saturday's hearing then posted a video of their presentation that evening on Blogspot. They'll also be at the commission's East Valley hearing this Thursday evening in Studio City. It's all here:

foothillsredistrictinggroup.blogspot.com/2012/02/thursday-night-hearing-in-studio-city.html

If the line separating our community isn't redrawn, I would be stuck with Richard Alarcon until 2013 at least -- unless he succeeds in his current state Assembly bid. Or he's convicted of a felony in the slow moving legal process that indicted him for living in Paul Krekorian's district. Either way, we'd have a special election that could result in the first Tujungan being elected to the City Council since Louie Nowell in 1973.

[Brian]

After the final public hearing on Saturday, the Los Angeles City Council Redistricting Commission announced Monday that it will vote on adjustments to the Draft Map Proposal at its 4 p.m. meeting this Wednesday in the council chambers at City Hall. Joe Barrett forwarded the e-mail 11 minutes later with attachments -- everyone can download the 2/15 agenda on PDF on the LACCRC website:

www.redistricting2011.lacity.org/LACITY/default.html

Each commissioner had the option to submit adjustments to the Council District boundaries, so the list starting on page 5 is lengthy. Scroll down and you'll see that our communities are kept together by suggestions 20, 34, 40, 46 and 72. Three of those put all of us in Richard Alarcon's CD7, which as I've mentioned is a marvelous opportunity to elect someone from the foothills when his term is up in 2013 -- maybe sooner, if he's convicted of any of the 24 felonies. Or elected to the state Assembly in November.

The final map vote is February 22 at Van Nuys City Hall, then the City Council takes it over on March 1.

[Brian]

The commission's meeting started at 4 Wednesday afternoon and didn't adjourn until 1:19 Thursday morning, according to a report by Glenn Bailey that the amazing Joe Barrett forwarded in an e-mail blast and posted on the Foothill Redistricting Group's Blogspot site. All five suggestions to keep the foothill communities together were passed in a single motion with only one nay vote.

The L.A. Times went to bed before Bailey and -- I just checked -- still hasn't posted a complete report.

From what little I've gathered about local opinion, I'm the only person who's happy that we might get Council District 7 with Alarcon instead of CD 6 with Cardenas, who was re-elected last year. Maybe I'm alone in celebrating the possibility of Alarcon either being convicted of felonies, getting elected to the state Assembly next November or running for re-election in March 2013. It seems that the district that sent Bob Ronka and Howard Finn to City Hall should be able to find a candidate among the activists who, among many achievements, beat Home Depot -- and may well save the Verdugo Hills Golf Course.

[Brian]

The most recent version of the commission's map, released on February 17.

One more session remains on the 29th before the Los Angeles City Council Redistricting Commission disbands and the City Council gets its final map. More changes will be made. But I've read the official press release along with reports of the February 22 meeting in the local papers and blogs, and although the commission won't post its latest maps on the website until Monday, it appears that the contours of Council District 7 will be the same as the version circulated by the city last Friday.

The Foothills communities will be together, from Highway 14 in Sylmar to Lowell Avenue in Tujunga -- surrounding San Fernando, wrapping around Hansen Dam Park from its southern boundary and taking in all of La Tuna Canyon to the Burbank border. A few horse people in Sun Valley might feel left out. And an appendage reaches down the eastside of the 405 past Nordhoff to include one of Richard Alarcon's homes.

Once the City Council members start exercising their influence directly onto the map -- rather than through their individual appointees to the commission -- anything can happen, I suppose. So many unhappy people reside between Sherman Oaks and South Central. Still, I think that the good citizens of the Foothills Redistricting Group have made our case forcefully enough to prevail, and we owe them many thanks.

[anni]

I e-mailed Joe Barrett a direct link to this thread, so he could see the far reaching effects of his work and reporting from the redistricting council to our greater community...He checked us out and wrote back:

"I have been told that once the map reaches City Council, they will likely fix the exclusion of Stonehurst/Rural Sun Valley from our district. We got 90% of what we wanted, we remain together as communities of interest with deep bonds. The Redistricting Commission listened to us! We're going to chalk this up as a win, and now work to find a good councilperson to represent us.
Thanks, Joe"

LA Progressive ran a great piece this week by a long-time City Hall activist, "LA's Redistricting War and the Health of Our Democracy," which gives kudos to the citizens who showed up to redraw the map -- and echos a point we've made on this message board, that the Occupiers also needed to go inside and help govern this city. Just think: only 10 to 15 percent turnout to vote in city elections. Those of us who speak out and vote can have tremendous power.

www.laprogressive.com/redistricting/?utm_source=LA%20Progressive%20Newsletter&utm_campaign=9dbe162d4c-LAP_News_19_July_2011_Live7_18_2011&utm_medium=email

[Brian]

Lots to report this week already, starting with the Final Map Recommendation for our Council District 7:

redistricting2011.lacity.org/PDF/LACITY/Final/web_streetmaps/laccrc_final_map_recommendation_0222_cd07.pdf

Looks like home. Enlarge that PDF enough and you can see our cat lounging in the window.

Will that map survive the City Council? They set an accelerated schedule to conclude the process by March 16 -- when the law gives them until July 1 -- with just two public hearings not being held at City Hall. One of those is in San Pedro, a bizarre choice because their district always draws itself up the Harbor Corridor.

It's going to be a raucous two weeks. Rumblings among angry constituents and disaffected Council members in South Central, Downtown and especially Koreatown could shift the lines all the way up to these foothills. Hope Councilman Krekorian is willing to represent us if we need him.

[Brian]

So far I've found very little online in the newspapers and blogs about the first days of the City Council's two week deliberation of its new boundaries. Maybe Wednesday's third public hearing in City Hall will produce an article in the Los Angeles Times -- it's a short walk, after all -- because all I can find are intimations of a lawsuit from Jan Perry and Bernard Parks on the right wing Mayor Sam site. The L.A. Weekly has run some of the best reporting on the redistricting -- this piece, despite being a week old, sets the scene:

blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2012/02/herb_wesson_redistricting_schedule.php