COUNCIL APPROVES 5TH VALLEY DISTRICT.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

Ending weeks of maneuvering and negotiations, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved new political boundaries - including a fifth district wholly within the San Fernando Valley - and beat an effort to delay the adoption of the map for a year.

Despite an impassioned plea from Councilwoman Ruth Galanter to make the new boundaries effective in July 2003, the council said the legal arguments - coupled with the secession drive in the Valley - demanded that it make the new boundaries effective immediately.

The council voted 9-6 to reject delay and then voted 14-0 to adopt the map - Galanter had walked out after she lost her effort - at the end of a nearly three-hour debate over the timing and other issues.

It is Galanter's 6th Council District that is being moved from the Venice-Westchester area to the Central Valley, stretching from Lake Balboa on the west through Van Nuys, North Hollywood and Sun Valley.

Despite her bitterness over the vote, Galanter said afterward that she will do all she can for the new district - and hinted she might be persuaded to support secession.

``I am looking forward to meeting with people to find out what they feel about secession,'' Galanter said. ``I want to make it clear to everyone that I am not part of this entourage of elected officials campaigning against it. I see this as a chance to have a serious civic dialogue.

``What I want to learn is what specifically people feel they aren't getting to bring them to support secession as opposed to the generic arguments about secession. When they talk about not getting their share of services, that has as much to do with who they elected to office.''

She said it will take time for her to open a field office coupled with the difficulty of being a lame-duck officeholder because of term limits with one year left and hiring a staff to represent the area.

During the council debate in which she was supported by Valley council members Hal Bernson and Cindy Miscikowski, Galanter fought hard for delay.

Galanter said, ``It makes sense that the people of this district be allowed to select the person they want. The people there will not be losing any representation, they will continue to have what they have now.

``I believe an important principle of American democracy is to let people choose their own representatives. What we are deciding is between political expediency and representative democracy.''

By law, the city must adjust the boundaries of the 15 council districts to reflect the findings of the U.S. Census, which is undertaken at 10-year intervals. Presently, the council has four districts wholly in the Valley and three partly in the Valley.

Galanter's effort to delay was countered by Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, who was elected three months ago and faces re-election next year.

``The issue before us is about people, not politics,'' Greuel said. ``This should be an argument about the San Fernando Valley deserved to have a fifth Valley seat based on the census data and there is no reason to delay implementation.

``If we delay this, we are denying representation and the Valley will not have equal representative democracy. Democracy delayed is democracy denied.''

The City Attorney's Office said the city would be open to legal action if it delayed implementation beyond next month.

Residents from the Valley supported immediate implementation of the new districts but Judy May of Westchester offered a competing viewpoint. ``It feels like our community is being made into a sacrificial lamb for the Valley. It's like you are saying give the Valley this district and it won't secede. What happens if they do secede and you all lose your jobs?''

Richard Close, who served on the citizens panel on reapportionment and is chairman of Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment, said the action was too long in coming.

``This is something we should have had 10 years ago. The issue is the Valley still will be outvoted. Five out of 15 is better than it was, but I still think we would be better off with our own city where we would have 14 of 14 council members.''

On other issues related to reapportionment, Councilman Nick Pacheco - also citing the secession effort - formally dropped his proposal to gain a greater portion of the downtown area represented by Councilwoman Jan Perry.

``This is a time when the city should be united,'' Pacheco said.

Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas was successful in blocking an effort by Councilman Nate Holden to pick up key voter constituencies on the western end of Ridley-Thomas' district. Holden had wanted to gain areas that would have included First AME Church as well as other major churches in the area.

The final map closely resembles the proposal that had been adopted by a citizens commission as required under the new City Charter.

``What we are doing here is something historic,'' said Councilman Jack Weiss, who chaired the council committee recommending the final plan.

``We took redistricting out of smoke-filled back rooms and had the public together to see what was done. This is a message for the city that we have changed the way business gets done in this city. For the first time, politics was taken out of redistricting.''

HOW THEY VOTED

Here is how City Council members voted on the final redistricting plan:

VOTING YES: Hal Bernson, Eric Garcetti, Wendy Greuel, Janice Hahn, Nate Holden, Tom LaBonge, Cindy Miscikowski, Nick Pacheco, Alex Padilla, Jan Perry, Ed Reyes, Mark Ridley-Thomas, Jack Weiss, Dennis Zine

VOTING NO: None

ABSENT: Ruth Galanter

Here is how council members voted on a proposal to delay the effective date of new council districts until July 2003:

VOTING YES: Bernson, Galanter, Miscikowski, Pacheco, Perry, Reyes

VOTING NO: Garcetti, Greuel, Hahn, Holden, LaBonge, Padilla, Ridley-Thomas, Weiss, Zine

Here is how council members voted on a motion to have the new boundaries take effect immediately:

VOTING YES: Bernson, Greuel, Hahn, Holden, LaBonge, Padilla, Ridley-Thomas, Weiss, Zine

VOTING NO: Galanter, Garcetti, Miscikowski, Pacheco, Perry, Reyes

CAPTION(S):

box, map

Box:

HOW THEY VOTED (see text)

Map:

REDISTRICTING MAP OF THE VALLEY

SOURCE: City of Los Angeles