LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge of District 4 has expressed disappointment with the draft redistricting map that was released for his area on Wednesday, January 25.  District 4 includes, among other cities, Los Feliz and the Hollywood Hills.

The District 4 map is one of 15 maps that were drawn up by the 21-member Los Angeles City Council Redistricting Commission as part of a process where district boundaries are redrawn every 10 years to account for population changes in each of the 15 districts in L.A.  Each commission member represents a district in L.A.

Proposed CD4 Map. Photo courtesy of L.A. City Council Redistricting Commission

In a statement from his office, LaBonge said that the residents in District 4 participated in the public hearing held on Wednesday, January 4, in Los Feliz and stated “loud and clear the importance of neighborhood integrity, the balance of diversity and the political representation of communities of interest in Council District 4.”  But they apparently were ignored by the commission, which LaBonge said disappointed him most of all.

LaBonge, a chairman for the Trade, Commerce and Tourism Committee, also said he believed the proposed redistricting map for District 4 would “weaken” the political representation of the Santa Monica Mountains and “fracture” the community of Hollywood among three L.A. City Council Districts.  LaBonge, who has been a member of the L.A. City Council since 2001, also believed the “historic” core of his district area (specifically the greater Wilshire area which includes the Miracle Mile, Larchmont Village, Windsor Square, Pan Pacific Park and Park La Brea) would be dissolved by the new district boundaries.

According to the L.A. City Council Redistricting Commission’s website, redistricting is significant because the manner in which districts are drawn have the potential to determine a community’s ability to elect the representatives of its own choosing. If possible, districts need to have an equal number of populations so that communities have equal access to political representation.

Seven public hearings will be held to allow the public to comment on the draft maps, with the first one taking place on Wednesday, February 1, at 6:30 p.m. in the Wilshire Ebell Theatre located at 4401 West 8th Street. The second one will be held the following evening on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Loyola Marymount University, in the Ahmanson Auditorium, located at 1 Loyola Marymount University Drive in L.A. 

“I therefore encourage all interested residents and community leaders of the 4th District to attend the upcoming public meetings on redistricting and make their voices heard unequivocally on keeping their neighborhoods and communities of interest together,” LaBonge said.

A full list of all seven public meetings can be found at www.tomlabonge.com/news/story/733.

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