Bernard Parks - CD8

South LA and Westchester Community Groups Join Forces, Release Joint Redistricting Proposal

Representatives from the South Los Angeles group Coalition for Fairness in Redistricting joined reps from the Westchester-based Committee to Save Westchester / Playa at a news conference on Thursday morning to announce a joint proposal that reverses the Redistricting Commission’s widely unpopular decision to split the Westchester, Leimert Park and Baldwin Hills communities between different council districts.

The proposal would have CD 11 – which needs to lose population – give up its portion of the Palms neighborhood, which is already split between three council districts, and retain Westchester. Without the increase in population from Westchester, CD8 would then retain Baldwin Vista and Village Green, keeping the entire Baldwin Hills community together in the Eighth District. The historic Leimert Park neighborhood, which the Redistricting Commission proposed splitting between CD8 and CD10 would also remain together in the Eighth.

The announcement brings together a diverse group of community activists from Downtown, South LA and West LA who oppose the Commission’s attempt to split up communities between council districts. The two groups met on the current boarder of CD8 and CD11, where 6-lane La Cienega Blvd forms a more logical boundary between the two districts. The groups spoke in front of a pedestrian bridge that provides the sole link between the two very different and distinct communities.

"Our voices in the communities of interest that extend from Leimert Park and Baldwin Hills over to Baldwin Vista and Village Green are being ignored for self-serving reasons by political leaders trying to secure the African American vote,” said Robert Cole, President of the Baldwin Hills Estates Homeowners Association and member of the Coalition for Fairness in Redistricting. “This is not democracy, this is "poli-tricks" at its worst, and at some point, somebody will be held accountable"

Based on the latest census reports, CD8 grew by only 1.5%, which would usually call for relatively small changes to its boundaries as opposed to the drastic neighborhood grabs proposed by the Commission.

Residents, community activists and councilmembers were baffled by the proposal to keep LAX in CD11, while placing the population closest to the airport and most affected by its operations in CD8. Last Thursday, hundreds of angry residents joined Councilmembers Bill Rosendahl, Bernard C. Parks, Jan Perry and Eric Garcetti at a Commission meeting at Westchester Recreation Center to express their outrage at the proposal. The four councilmembers, who represent a variety of diverse communities including Brentwood, Venice, Baldwin Hills, Leimert Park, Downtown, Hollywood and Silverlake, all agree that Westchester belongs with the other coastal communities in CD11.

The Commission’s proposed CD8 would connect Westchester to the rest of the district through a long and narrow strip of land, where the city limits are just 500 feet apart. The strip extends from La Tijera Blvd, north along La Cienega, makes a 90 degree turn at W. 64th Street, and extends east until it connects with the South LA neighborhood of Park Mesa Heights.

Redistricting – the process of dividing Los Angeles into 15 city council districts of equal population – occurs only once a decade, following the release of data gathered from the preceding federal census.

Because only the people that live within a district can vote for, nominate or become a city council candidate for that district, during the redistricting process, many competing special interests seek districts that establish a political advantage for their particular candidate, party or group by manipulating geographic boundaries in order to create their desired electoral results.

This process - called "gerrymandering" - can be used to either help or hinder a particular demographic, such as a political, racial, linguistic, religious or class group. The two aims of gerrymandering are to maximize the effect of supporters' votes and to minimize the effect of opponents' votes.

One strategy, “packing”, is to concentrate as many voters of one type into a single electoral district to reduce their influence in other districts. A second strategy, “cracking”, involves spreading out voters of a particular type among many districts in order to deny them a sufficiently large voting bloc in any particular district.

In an attempt to make this process fairer and less political, in 2000, the voters of Los Angeles adopted a new city charter that took the responsibility of drawing districts away from the City Council and gave it to a citizen's commission.

The Charter states four criteria for the Commission to follow when drawing district boundaries: conformance with requirements of state and federal law, keep neighborhoods and communities intact, utilize natural boundaries or street lines, and be geographically compact.

Residents are encouraged to attend the next meeting of the Redistricting Commission on Saturday, February 11th at 11 AM at the West Angeles Church of God in Christ - 3045 South Crenshaw Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90016. An opportunity for public comment will be provided. Feedback on the Commission’s proposal can also be submitted through their website – Redistricting2011.lacity.org, emailed to redistricting.lacity@lacity.org, or faxed to 213-922-7707.