Valley Should Rejoice, Not Fume, at Remap

Residents of San Fernando Valley communities became highly agitated when the Los Angeles City Council unveiled its latest redistricting plan. Patently designed to avoid a confrontation between two incumbent members, the plan at first does appear to serve only the career interests of the politicians in City Hall and not the interests of those whom they were elected to serve.

But such negative reaction, although understandable, is misplaced. The new proposal is actually good for the Valley, and may portend a fundamental realignment of the political philosophy that currently dominates City Hall thinking. On the 15-member Los Angeles City Council, eight votes rule the day. And if this new plan is adopted the Valley will have eight votes for the first time in its history. For once the Valley may no longer be the city’s stepchild.

The negative reaction has been based essentially on two grounds --the insensitivity of the timing of the decision, coming as it did on the death of 1st District Councilman Howard Finn, and the way the new district lines would break up homogeneous communities.

No one should be surprised at the insensitivity of the timing. Councilmen John Ferraro and Michael Woo, based in the mid-Wilshire and Hollywood areas, were facing a time bomb. Under the council’s first reapportionment plan, certain political death would have awaited one of them. Presented with the opportunity to salvage the situation, they took the only course possible to save their political futures.

Unfortunately, this course of action resulted in the dismemberment of Finn’s 1st District and did violence to the lines of other districts as well. Valley residents feel that they have been unfairly targeted to resolve a problem--Ferraro vs. Woo--that is not any of their concern.

But one must look at the 1st District vacancy as an opportunity to address problems other than simply the salvaging of two political futures. Minority communities have long complained that the 1st District’s boundaries were designed to minimize the chances of electing a Latino or a black to the council.

Thus, Finn’s death gave the council another opportunity to address the issue of minority representation, which it is currently being forced to do by court order. It did so by combining the large minority neighborhoods of the 1st District with those of an adjacent district and thereby creating a new 7th District. On the retirement of Councilman Ernani Bernardi, there is now a good possibility of electing a minority candidate from this new district.

So the council has not only saved the political futures of two colleagues, it has also accomplished what the court has required.

Lost in their concern over the elimination of Finn’s seat, Valley residents have also overlooked one other crucial development in the new plan. Three more council members--Woo, Ferraro and Zev Yaroslavsky--will now have districts with major portions extending into the Valley. All three are known for their sensitivity to community interests, and, after a certain get-acquainted period, it can be anticipated that all will become formidable advocates for distinctly Valley issues.

Until this plan was proposed, community activists in the Valley could never count on votes from “over the hill.” The new plan would virtually assure a majority at City Hall on strictly Valley issues. But the implications go beyond Valley concerns.

Political philosophy in the San Fernando Valley tends to be fiscally conservative, skeptical and primarily concerned with the delivery of basic city services. Some of that philosophy should be picked up by the council members.

Yaroslavsky, for instance, will no doubt temper his criticism of the police if he expects to retain Valley support. Woo, considered an ultraliberal when he first came to the council, will probably take a more conservative look at issues. And the movement of Councilman Joel Wachs’ district into the Sunland-Tujunga area has already prompted him to remark, “You haven’t seen how conservative I can be.”

So, instead of complaining, Valley citizens should be celebrating. The stepchild is now in a position to dominate discussion on a wide variety of issues in the City of Los Angeles.