Redistricting in flux

Acorn, The (Agoura Hills, CA) - Thursday, September 1, 2011
Stephanie Bertholdo ; bertholdo@theacorn.com

Environmental groups and civic leaders are urging residents to attend the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors’ redistricting hearing on Tues., Sept. 6 to oppose the recent change in political boundaries. 

According to the Las Virgenes Homeowners Federation, a Santa Monica Mountains advocacy group, last-minute boundary proposals by Supervisors Gloria Molina and Mark Ridley-Thomas would push the Santa Monica Mountains into the control of 4th District Supervisor Don Knabe. (See T1 and S2 maps at http://molina.lacounty. gov/maps.html.) 

The 3rd District comprises the Las Virgenes region, the greater Westside of Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, all bound by the Santa Monica Mountain range. 

The LVHF board said if the redistricting plan is approved, the potential impacts and repercussions to the mountain communities would be “profound.” 

“The effects would be immediate, and within 30 days we could lose Zev (Yaroslavsky) as our supervisor and get someone we did not even vote for,” said Kim Lamorie, president of LVHF. 

She added, “Any such sudden change in the middle of a supervisorial term would disrupt our ability to have a consistent voice on development issues and would threaten ongoing projects we are working on with the county—such as the North Area Communities Standards District, the Dark Skies Ordinance and funding for Operation Safe Canyons,” a traffic enforcement program. 

Colleen Holmes, president of the environmental group Cornell Preservation Organization, said that if the boundaries are approved the fate of the Santa Monica Mountains could be “a crapshoot.” 

“I view Zev as a guardian of the Santa Monica Mountains in many ways,” Holmes said. “He’s definitely a friend.” 

Holmes recounted some past struggles between environmentalists and downtown politicians. She said when the mountain area was governed by Supervisor Michael Antonovich “all kinds of awful projects were approved,” including a disjointed residential development project near the Peter Strauss Ranch and another in the Cornell corridor. “Antonovich has left scars here before.” 

“(Supervisor) Knabe doesn’t know our area whatsoever,” Holmes said. “We’ve got roots here with Zev—he’s like an oak tree.” 

Holmes said she’s also worried the environmental laws protecting the Santa Monicas could be weakened under a new supervisor. 

“Zev’s district runs very deep and wide, but it’s connected,” Holmes said, noting that many of the communities are linked by the coast. 

Yaroslavsky said if the redistricting plan is approved it would destroy the cohesion of the 3rd District. 

As it relates to the Santa Monica Mountains, Yaroslavsky said the T1 and S2 maps change the political center of gravity of the 3rd Supervisorial District. 

“Currently, the Santa Monica Mountains bind the Westside of L.A. and the San Fernando Valley into a cohesive community of interest on environmental, transportation and human service issues,” Yaroslavsky said. “That community of interest reflects the boundaries of our supervisorial district. 

“The two proposed districts break up that cohesion and would shift it to communities that include Torrance and Long Beach. Those cities have very little in common with the issues that preoccupy the 3rd District and its constituents.” 

As for the integrity of the Santa Monica Mountains, Yaroslavsky said the current 3rd District has preserved the mountains by limiting development. 

“Whatever development takes place should minimize the degradation of its mountains, valleys and streams,” he said. “That consensus should not be jeopardized by breaking up our district.” 

According to Supervisor Molina, the new redistricting maps create two Latino-majority districts, which ensures compliance with the Voting Rights Act and America’s civil rights movement. 

Yaroslavsky wrote in his blog that the adoption of the new maps is not required by law. 

“The Voting Rights Act requires an equal opportunity for minority groups; it does not require the creation of districts in which a single minority group comprises more than 50 percent of the voting age citizenry,” he said. 

“The federal courts have ruled that ‘50 percent’ districts are only required when voting is so racially polarized that non-minorities consistently vote against minoritypreferred candidates to such an extent that those candidates are denied an equal opportunity to win.” 

Yaroslavsky said non-minorities often vote for a minority candidate in L.A. County. 

“Los Angeles in 2011 is not the same as the Los Angeles of 40, 30 or even 20 years ago,” Yaroslavsky wrote. “Our county is politically and socially far more mature and broad-minded. In the last decade, many elections have been won by Latino candidates even where Latinos did not represent a majority of the voters. These candidates include Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Sheriff Lee Baca and County Assessor John Noguez.” 

The public hearing on redistricting is at 1 p.m. Sept. 6 in room 381 of the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration at 500 W. Temple St. in Los Angeles.