The on Tuesday declined to consider a resolution that would lend their support to public calls to delay L.A.’s Redistricting proceedings and make the process more responsive to public wishes.
The ERNC agreed instead—by a 9-1 vote and three abstentions—to table the request until it has more information to act on. Mike Hernandez, assistant chief of staff to City Council members Jan Perry and Bernard Parks, made the request before the ERNC board.
Keeping Eagle Rock and Highland Park Together
In another 12-1 vote on a related issue, however, the ERNC board agreed to support a Redistricting proposal known as “Amendment G,” which seeks to keep intact the northern portion of Highland Park that shares Council District 14 with Eagle Rock. Amendment G would also Glassell Park intact in CD 1 instead of splitting it up between two Council districts.
The backing of Amendment G was in response to a presentation by Ana E. Cubas, chief of staff to , who told the ERNC board that Huizar supports retaining Highland Park’s thriving business district north of York Boulevard, while keeping Glassell Park whole. Last week, Cubas informed Patch that Huizar is committed to including northern Highland Park in final Redistricting maps—click here to read that story.
Some Highland Park business owners have also expressed their desire to remain in CD14, including Cathi Milligan of the on York Boulevard.
"As a business owner and resident of north Highland Park, I feel a strong tie to the Eagle Rock community," said Milligan at a Downtown redistricting meeting in February. "I'm hoping all of you will take this relationship into consideration. We have a lot of projects in CD14 that will disappear if we become a part of CD1, and I'd hate to see that happen. The economic development in this region is of the utmost importance."
Perry’s Offensive
The ERNC’s decisions on Tuesday night came a day after CD 9 Council member and mayoral candidate Perry accused City Council President Herb Wesson and Huizar of trying to manipulate the Redistricting process by depriving her of large parts of Downtown that currently lie in her district. (The latest Redistricting maps, which are scheduled to be finalized by the City Council Rules Committee on March 16 before going before the full Council, allocate a sizeable chunk of Downtown to Huizar’s CD 14 in lieu of northern Highland Park and almost all of Mount Washington.)
Asked for Huizar’s reaction to Perry’s accusations, the Council member’s communications director, Rick Coca retorted: "Such cheap-shot and desperate tactics do not deserve a response."
Perry’s Assistant Chief of Staff Hernandez told the ERNC board that the Councilman’s concerns were summed up in a motion that was seconded by Parks and introduced in the City Council on February 24.
Not only are the redistricting maps illegal, they run roughshod over long-established community partnerships and links as well as people’s wishes, argued the motion, which Council President Wesson has set aside until the map are finalized, Hernandez said.
Asked by ERNC board member Osbaldo Luna why Hernandez was approaching neighborhood councils at this late stage in the Redistricting process, the assistant chief of staff replied that Perry’s office did not expect the Redistricting Commission to act as unilaterally as it has in the face of considerable public opposition to the new maps of Los Angeles.
Hernandez told Patch separately that Perry and Parks notified City Attorney Carmen Trutanich on Monday that they would be taking legal action against the Redistricting process in the L.A. Superior Court as well as the federal court.
