Downtown-Area Meetings for City Council Redistricting Kick off Saturday
blogdowntown
Los Angeles' City Charter requires Council Districts to be "geographically compact," but the politics of redistricting has left borders tangled.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Between now and July 2012, the lines that split Los Angeles into its 15 council districts must be redrawn to "contain, as nearly as practicable, equal portions of the total population of the City."
That should be a simple process, right? Just take the Census Bureau's count of 3,792,621, divide it by 15, and draw lines that place 252,841 people in each district.
In reality, though, the politicized process is never quite that easy. This Saturday, public meetings get underway to introduce those who live in the three Downtown-area districts to the redistricting process and to collect input on how the boundaries should change.
A 21-member citizen panel gets the first crack at the redistricting process, after which the councilmembers will get their own chance to lobby for changes before passing the new maps.
Of course, that lobbying may already be happening. Councilwoman Jan Perry accused her fellow members of drawing maps behind closed doors when she resigned from her council leadership post last month.
According to data that blogdowntown computed back when the Census data was released in March, Perry's district currently contains 261,470 people and will need to shrink by nearly nine thousand to meet the City Charter's requirements.
Perry's 9th district is the first of the Downtown seats to have its public meeting, which will take place this Saturday, December 10, from 11am to 2pm (Santee Educational Complex -- 1921 S. Maple Avenue). A meeting in Councilman Jose Huizar's 14th district will have its meeting on Tuesday, December 13, from 6:30-9:30pm (Boyle Heights Senior Center -- 2839 E. 3rd Street). The meeting for Councilman Ed Reyes' 1st district will take place on Saturday, January 7, from 11am to 2pm (St. Peter's Italian Catholic Church -- 1039 N. Broadway).
Brian Tompkins on December 08, 2011, at 11:02AM – #1
How would Perry's plans for Broadway and the streetcar differ from those of Huizer if she were to take a crack at it?
drotterdrop on December 08, 2011, at 12:26PM – #2
Perry's plans for Broadway and the streetcar would be non-existant, because #1 those are Huizar projects, and if he goes thy go, and #2 because Perry will be non-existant herself from council.
People seem to forget Perry is termed out - she's off the council in a year. There is no sense to the theory of all-Downtown-under-Perry because Perry is good as gone and it won't be Perry anymore.
The ramp up time with someone new would be damaging for Downtown, not to menton the death of Broadway and the streetcar. The best thing for Downtown would be to unify in the 14th and Huizar.
downtown vibe on December 08, 2011, at 09:27PM – #3
Virtually everything accomplished by Jose Huizar on Broadway has been funded with money STOLEN from the CLARTS recycling Center in Boyle Heights.
The money was supposed to be spent on projects approved by the full City Council. Huizar has simply transferred millions of dollars into his discretionary accounts.
He is paying his friends and his political supporters with the money.
The accounts are being investigated.
Ex Councilman/convicted felon, Richard Alatorre is controlling CD14. Any street car contract will be rigged for his friends just like the subway contracts back in the 1990's.
There is 20 years of history on the internet if anybody wants to find the truth.
Start with the LA Times.
drotterdrop on December 08, 2011, at 10:16PM – #4
Ooooooh, conspiracy theories. So what, there are plenty of them in CD9 too, and CD1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 so on. Anytime things are geting done anywhere in this city some people like to hate on it and criticize but whatever. That's not the point.
The issue is how to help the various neighborhoods of Downtown continue to grow, improve and work as a unified community through more sensible unified boundaries, regardless of which politician serves the unified area.
But if given a choice, with Perry on the way out from council and no clear Downtown-friendly successor in place, Downtown should go to Huizar doesn't need three years to figure out who's who and what's what while the Downtown progress suffers.
downtown vibe on December 09, 2011, at 09:00AM – #5
Yeah probably just a big conspiracy...
But just for fun, google...
"Richard Alatorre MTA President, Scandal"
"Cordoba Construction Santa Ana Trolley, Scandal"
"Jose Huizar LAUSD bribery, scandal"
you might even check out..
"Jose Huizar uses $27,000 of CLARTS money for contract to give away FREE turkeys."
Why do you suppose Alatorre/Huizar/Villaraigosa want to keep a strange little slice of downtown under the control of the "organization" so badly? Is it a deep respect for the architecture? Look how they have respected it so far.
Why do you think the people of Little Tokyo have been seeking protection in CD9 for 25 years?
I'll tell you. Tom Bradley made a deal with the Alatorre machine back in the 1980's to redevelope little Tokyo. Latino insiders were set to get rich while historic Little Tokyo was to be dismantled. There has been a war going on ever since. This is history not theory.
There is a good history on the "Mayor Sam's Sister City Blog" and in the LA Times Online Archives.
CD14 is VERY important to corrupt insiders.
It should be completely dismantled.
downtown vibe on December 09, 2011, at 11:21AM – #6
By the way, bringing a streetcar to Broadway was not Huizar's idea.
A proposed route for an electric trolley on Broadway can be found in the Downtown Strategic Plan, published by the Community Redevelopment Agency in 1990. The goal was to link Union Station with the Convention Center area.
Further, in 1999 the Los Angeles Conservancy published a proposal for a restored Red Car route on Broadway.
This was the Broadway Initiative Action Plan, which can be found here:
http://www.laconservancy.org/broadwayap.pdf
This is 2011. Why hasn't Broadway been brought back by now?
Maybe Council District 14 IS the reason!