Redistricting map affects two communities

Melissa Pamer
Daily Breeze
September 29, 2011

Westchester and Playa del Rey. A redistricting map approved Tuesday by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors makes minimal changes to existing boundaries, shifting just about 277,000 residents from one district to another. In the South Bay, only two communities will be affected: Westchester and Playa del Rey. There, Supervisors Don Knabe and Mark Ridley-Thomas will swap two areas under a plan introduced by Knabe.

Knabe's 4th District will gain all of Playa del Rey and a portion of Westchester west of Lincoln Boulevard - an area that includes Westchester High, Otis College of Art and Design and most of the Ballona Wetlands. Ridley-Thomas' 2nd District will now include Westchester east of Lincoln Boulevard, gaining most of the Westchester community's homes as well as Playa Vista and Loyola Marymount University.

Minor last-minute tweaks to Knabe's map were made Tuesday at the suggestion of county staff. The changes affected mostly unpopulated areas, including a portion of Hawthorne that will join the rest of that city in Ridley-Thomas' district.

However, the map likely will be challenged in court by activists who want to see a second majority-Latino district created - a prospect backed by Ridley-Thomas and Supervisor Gloria Molina.