Los Angeles City Council Redistricting: Weigh in Saturday

Residents and neighbors of Council District 1--which includes large swaths of Highland Park, Mount Washington and Echo Park--will have their opportunity on Saturday to weigh in on the impending realignment of Los Angeles' city council districts.

A community input meeting will be held on Saturday, Jan. 7, from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at St. Peter's Italian Catholic Church on 1039 North Broadway.

Required to take place every 10 years following the release of U.S. Census data, Los Angeles City Council redistricting is an effort to redraw city council boundaries to reflect population and demographic shifts.

The most recent round of redistricting got underway in September, with the formation of the 20-member Los Angeles City Council Redistricting Commission. Each of the 15 council districts are represented by a commissioner, chosen by their respective city council members.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa also selected three commissioners; City Attorney Carmen Trutanich and City Controller Wendy Greuel each selected one commissioner.

Throughout December, commissioners have held input hearings at each of Los Angeles' 15 council districts. Saturday's hearing will be one of the last of those hearings before a commissioners will begin the process of drafting the new maps.

Commissioner Arturo Vargas, who was appointed by Mayor Villaraigosa, said that the redrawn maps will reflect the input gathered at community hearings.

"Absolutely," that's the whole point of holding the hearings," Vargas said.

Spokeswoman Daniella Masterson said the commission wanted to learn not only how demographics had shifted, but where community priorities now lie.

"These meetings are meant to give the community the parameters to tell us what really matters to them," Masterson said.

For Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council member Richard Marquez said his priority is to unify the neighborhood into a single council district. Currently, Highland Park's representation is split between Council District 1 and Council District 14. Mount Washington is also split between the two districts.

Marquez has argued that because of the split, city politicians have been able to play the "pawn game" with Highland Park city services by deferring issues to their neighboring councilman.

"I would like to see Highland Park unified, to have a single vision," Marquez said. "We've been split for 40 years, we deserve our chance."