Now that you’ve surely had a total blast reading my story about the battle during yesterday’s final redistricting hearing before the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, let’s take a brief look a some nitty-gritty details.
The more-or-less status quo map that was approved on a 4-1 vote 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 Fourth 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’ Second District will include Westchester east of Lincoln Boulevard, gaining most of the Westchester community’s homes as well as Playa Vista and Loyola Marymount University.
I hate to send you to a competitor, but the LA Times has a great interactive map that lets you compare current districts to future ones, including failed proposals from Supervisors Gloria Molina and Ridley-Thomas, who both wanted to see a second majority-Latino district created.
Minor last-minute tweaks to Knabe’s “A3″ 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. The county’s map, without those tweaks, can be found here.
However, the map is likely to be challenged in court, so who knows what we’ll really get?
Meanwhile, a new website has been created at Los Angeles city and the giant Los Angeles school district prepare to undergo their own redistricting pains in coming months. Check it out here.
