California Congressional Districts

Redistricting May Disrupt Neighborhood Council Unity

A neighborhood council committee is recommending that redistricting proposed by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission be altered to maintain continuity between local councils.

The recommendation specifically concerns the draft California Assembly map. The draft in its current form disrupts the Westside neighborhood council system, members of the Governmental Affairs and City Services Committee of the Neighborhood Council of Westchester/Playa said Wednesday night at a meeting.

The concerns specifically surround Marina del Rey, Playa Vista, Mar Vista and Venice. None of the communities fall into the same Assembly district as Playa del Rey and Westchester under the draft. 

"Those areas are definitely very similar to us," said committee member and Playa del Rey resident Craig Eggers. 

The committee also studied the drafts maps of the congressional and California Senate districts. On the congressional map, the chief concern was over an unincorporated area near Inglewood that was included in the district, said committee chair Ashley Diestel. 

The proposed state Senate district drew no criticism, although committee members commented on its size, stretching from West Hollywood to Rolling Hills. 

The 14-member California Citizens Redistricting Commission released draft plans earlier this month for new congressional and state districts for the entire state. The plans show new proposed boundaries for California's 53 congressional districts, 40 state Senate Districts and 80 state Assembly Districts, as well as districts for the state Board of Equalization, which handles taxation issues.

The boundaries are in the draft state now and the public's input is being gathered. The final districts will be decided in August.

Unity is expected to be the overriding concern moving forward, committee members said.

Diestel said that in the special primary election for the 36th Congressional District, she found she was ineligible to vote by one street.

Her Playa del Rey neighbor across the street, meanwhile, was able to vote, said Diestel.

She worries that similar disconnects could result from the new maps. 

"[We do not] have as much power as say, Culver City, which has its own government," Diestel said. "[Under the draft maps], it will take twice as many people to get things done."

She also said the newly formed districts could clash against one another, which would be detrimental to community members.

Daily Kos: Analysis of California's Proposed Congressional Maps ...

Cross posted on my blog http://racesandredistricting.blogspot.com/ which you should check out for more redistricting maps and analysis.

On November 2nd, 2010, California voters passed Proposition 20 allowing a commission composed of 5 Democrats, 5 Republicans and 4 Independents to redraw my state's congressional districts. Previously, the state legislature drew the maps. In the House of Representatives, the representatives represent voters in districts the legislature draws. In recent years though, states such as Washington and California have chosen commissions to draw districts without political influence. In California, the commission traveled around the state to hear public comments from citizens like me and talk to groups such as MALDEF. On June 10th, 2011, the California Redistricting Commission released their first set of maps for California after hearing public comments from meetings such as this one on May 20th that I attended. The guidelines set for the commission were to draw districts that follow the VRA, stick to county boundaries as much as possible and preserve communities of interest. This analysis examines the first 17 congressional districts to examine whether they fit the communities of interest requirements and what happens to the districts' incumbents under the new lines. The commission has dismantled gerrymandered districts such as the 25th which connected Mono County in the High Desert with Santa Clarita in the Los Angeles suburbs. Still, I want to ensure that they have drawn all the districts so the districts respect communities of interest. Here is a link to the new maps of California: Status: Safe Democratic

I attended the meeting where the commission heard comments about Santa Rosa. A few meeting attendees said they wanted to combine the Napa area with the Central Valley but no one mentioned combining Santa Rosa with the Central Valley. Santa Rosa is more working class than the surrounding communities but it is not similar to Yuba County. Sonoma County does have agriculture but Santa Rosa is not very agricultural. Yuba County is very agricultural.  Anyway, this district may be a "leftovers district" because these areas had no district for them so they were placed in the 1st district. I would suggest that the lst district should have similar lines to its current form. This would unite Yolo, Napa, Mendocino, Lake, Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. Although Yolo and a few of the North Coast Counties may be different, they are more similar than Santa Rosa and Yuba City because Yolo County has Davis with university liberals and Humboldt County has Humboldt State also with university liberals. It also keeps the theme of counties with small cities instead of one city with around 160,000 people (Santa Rosa) with more rural territory with a few small cities.  Placing Santa Rosa with Marin County and the rest of Sonoma County keeps the theme of medium sized cities/suburbs with some rural areas mixed into the district. The lines help the Democrats though by placing Yuba County in this district because Yuba County could be used in another district to make it more Republican. Anyway, Santa Rosa and Napa County should keep this district in the Democratic column. Mike Thompson's home of St. Helena is located in this district so he may run here.

California Congressional Districts, Official Maps of Districts for the U.S. House of Representatives to Be Used With the 1984 Elections

Congressional Districts of Californi, California's 1st Congressional District, California's 3rd Congressional District

United States congressional districts, 1883-1913

The 110th Congressional District Atlas

Congressional record, proceedings and debates of the ... Congress