L.A. council president criticizes redistricting map, saying it has ‘alienated thousands’

Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez spoke out Friday against a citizen commission’s proposal for redrawing the council’s 15 districts, saying it makes “drastic changes” to political boundaries that “threaten to widen the divides between communities.”

Martinez, who represents part of the San Fernando Valley, said in a statement the proposed changes have “confused and alienated thousands” — a message that dramatically increases the likelihood that council members will rework the map significantly.

“While some areas kept their assets and neighborhoods whole, poverty was concentrated in other communities that have already suffered from disinvestment and neglect for generations,” Martinez said.

The council president issued her remarks the morning after a 21-member citizen commission voted 15 to 6 to finalize its map, which would make major alterations to the boundaries of three council districts — those represented by Nithya Raman, Paul Krekorian and Bob Blumenfield.

The citizen commission declined to say which areas should be represented by Paul Krekorian and Nithya Raman, leaving it to the council to decide.

Under the proposal, either Raman or Krekorian would be assigned to represent a new district proposed for the west San Fernando Valley, which would include Winnetka and other nearby neighborhoods.

The other would be assigned to a district encompassing the Hollywood Hills, Griffith Park, North Hollywood and other areas.

Krekorian, who won reelection last year to his third and final term, currently represents the east San Fernando Valley’s 2nd District. Raman, who took office in December, represents the 4th District, which stretches from Hancock Park to Silver Lake and north to Sherman Oaks. The proposed map currently shows the districts labeled 2-or-4 an 4-or-2.

Meanwhile, Blumenfield’s southwest Valley district would be stretched considerably to the east, reaching as far as Valley Village. That shift would cause him to lose other neighborhoods, including Canoga Park and Reseda.

Critics of the map have argued that the changes would make Blumenfield’s district much whiter and wealthier. Defenders of the map have countered that the proposed Winnetka district, located next to Blumenfield’s, would give voters a much stronger chance of electing a Latino to represent the West Valley.

A new map must be approved in time for it to go into effect on Jan. 1.

Martinez is the latest council member to speak out against the proposal.
Krekorian has repeatedly promised to change the map once it reaches the council. Raman, for her part, said the proposal has “unacceptable inequities and needs to be changed.”

During Thursday’s deliberations, Commissioner Jackie Goldberg said the decision not to label the two Valley districts made it more difficult for voters in those areas to weigh in on the redistricting proposal. Goldberg, who voted against the map, decried the idea that Raman could be assigned to a West Valley district that’s entirely new to her, one year after taking office.

“There is no precedent for stripping a first-term council member of 100% of their constituents,” said Goldberg, a former city councilwoman who sits on the L.A. school board and was appointed to the commission by Raman.

Commissioner Richard Katz, an appointee of Blumenfield, defended the proposal, saying it would achieve a long sought goal: placing five districts and the vast majority of a sixth inside the Valley. The commission, he said, achieved things that have been “on the Valley agenda for a really long time,” he said.

Other backers of the commission’s proposal said that it would achieve other policy objectives: placing Koreatown in a single council district, ensuring the opportunity for Black or Latino representation in certain parts of the city, and consolidating heavily Jewish neighborhoods on the Westside into a single district.

“What the council does after this is up to the council,” said Commissioner Carlos Moreno, a retired judge appointed by City Atty. Mike Feuer, who is running for mayor. “But I think no one can really question that each of us, and collectively, we’ve done our best.”

The city redraws its council district boundaries every 10 years, after receiving data from the once-a-decade U.S. census.

After obtaining that information, city leaders must approve maps that give each district roughly an equal population and protect the voting rights of certain groups, including Black, Latino and Asian American residents.