COUNCIL DISTRICTS COULD BE REDRAWN.

Byline: Paul Hefner Daily News Sacramento Bureau

With a supermarket, two gas stations and a Kentucky Fried Chicken stand, the intersection of Sherman Way and Woodman Avenue in Van Nuys hardly looks like a political crossroad.

But in the baffling world of the Los Angeles City Council, crossing either thoroughfare amounts to a political odyssey.

The north side of Sherman Way is Joel Wachs' turf.

The south side belongs to Cindy Miscikowski, west of Woodman, and Mike Feuer, east of Woodman.

One intersection in Van Nuys - three council members.

It's much the same in other parts of the San Fernando Valley - and some other parts of the city - where council boundaries were drawn without regard to the communities that members were meant to serve.

``My district defies description,'' Wachs said.

``If one were a cynic, one might say they intentionally split up communities. It seems the council almost went out of its way to split communities. It certainly didn't honor them.''

Critics contend that carving up neighborhoods among several districts makes residents politically impotent - and breeds disinterest among politicians about grass-roots problems.

With district lines to be redrawn after the 2000 census, there is an opportunity to create districts that better reflect communities and a bill pending in the state Legislature would require cities and counties to take community boundaries into account during redistricting.

``I represent all of Van Nuys, but it's got five different City Council people,'' said Assemblyman Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, who introduced the measure, AB 1685.

``It's something that's always bothered me. It drives me crazy.''

The boundaries that govern who represents whom in Los Angeles divide more communities than they brings together.

Splitting up

Of 35 neighborhood planning areas citywide, only a third are represented by a single member of the City Council.

The problem is worst in the Valley where four areas - North Hills, Van Nuys, Studio City and North Hollywood - are split at least three ways.

In comparison, four out of 10 of the city's Westside areas have a single council member to look out for community interests and to call on the carpet for mistakes.

Some might expect that having several different representatives with a stake in a community might give it more clout at City Hall, but it hasn't worked that way in Van Nuys, said Don Schultz, president of the area's homeowner association.

``Before the last split, we had six,'' Schultz said. ``But the reality was, Van Nuys was not a primary location for any one of those council people. As a result, it has been chopped up like this, and it hasn't gotten any attention.''

Schultz, who credits Miscikowski for making Van Nuys a priority, said many people don't even know who represents them. Call a council member's field office for assistance, and you'll be quizzed to be sure you've reached the right one.

``It's not, how can I help you? It's, what's your address and where do you live?'' Schultz said.

Divided representation

He said the area's divided representation can slow down attempts to address basic neighborhood issues.

``My wife Trudy tried for two years just to get community signs for Van Nuys. She had to deal with every council office, because they all had to agree about where they would go. You can see why it took so long.''

Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association and co-chairman of the Valley VOTE secession movement, said divided communities tend to get shortchanged because they represent only a small part of a council member's district.

City Council President John Ferraro, whose district includes just a small sliver of the Valley, allocates little time or staff to Valley concerns.

``If you only represent 5 to 10 percent of a district, you're only entitled to 5 to 10 percent of his attention,'' Close said. ``That's not a criticism, that's reality.''

Settling disputes

Dividing communities also complicate land use disputes because the council defers to the member whose district is involved.

Former Councilman Michael Woo, for instance, all but ignored Sherman Oaks concerns about a proposed shopping complex on Ventura Boulevard.

``He just wouldn't deal with us. At that point only a small part of Sherman Oaks was in his district,'' Close said.

Then-Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who represented most of the community, couldn't help because council protocol barred involvement outside the district lines.

Hertzberg's bill, which breezed through the Assembly and is pending in the state Senate, would require that, to the degree possible, cities and counties make their district boundaries conform to communities of interest - geographic areas identified in city general plans.

The measure wouldn't interfere with other redistricting requirements already on the books, including federal Voting Rights Act safeguards against diluting the strength of minority communities.

But some contend Hertzberg's proposal isn't the answer.

Community boundaries themselves have been moved over the years, sometimes for political reasons.

Dividing people

Using those boundaries to decide political representation might divide people whose common ethnic or economic background might be more important than whether their mail carries a Van Nuys ZIP code, said David Ely, vice president of Pactech Data and Research.

``I don't think it's thoughtful enough about the overall picture,'' said Ely, whose firm advised city officials during redistricting efforts in 1986 and 1992 that carved up the Valley.

What's more, Ely and others said they don't believe Hertzberg's bill, even if signed into law, can be applied to Los Angeles, where election issues are governed by the City Charter.

``If they put it in the Election Code, it's not binding on a charter city,'' he said.

Hertzberg said that politics - rather than concern for community representation - has held sway over district boundaries in Los Angeles.

``The decisions being made aren't out of respect for the for the Voting Rights Act, they're being made out of political interest,'' he said.

Hertzberg acknowledged the state's power to inject itself into a charter city's election process is subject to legal debate. But for the city to test the issue in court, it would have to defend the practice of butchering communities in the process of drawing district lines.

``I'd like to see somebody make that argument,'' he said.