DISTRICT LAYOUT BLASTED RESIDENTS VOW TO FIGHT PROPOSAL.

Byline: Erik N. Nelson Staff Writer

A two-headed-serpent-shape City Council district proposed by a city redistricting panel has angered San Fernando Valley residents from Encino to Tujunga.

It's also raised fears that it would influence the election between Wendy Greuel and Assemblyman Tony Cardenas in the March 5 runoff to replace former City Councilman Joel Wachs.

Temporarily labeled District B, rather than numbered like the 2nd, 6th or 11th districts it might replace, the district is even more distorted by political considerations than Wachs' 2nd District is now.

``If you look at the new map that's come out, it looks just as gerrymandered. It goes down to a one-block-wide gooseneck near the Burbank Airport,'' said Ken McAlpine, who is leading the effort to create a Sunland-Tujunga neighborhood council.

``They've got us included with Encino. We're a rural foothill area, and there's just not a common interest here,'' McAlpine said.

Encino residents said they also don't share their interests, geography or longitude with the far Northeast Valley.

``There's no common thread between Lake Encino and Van Nuys,'' two communities linked by the proposed District B, said Gerald Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino. ``Sunland-Tujunga? That's even further removed. You explain to me the logic of that. There is none. It's being driven by political motives rather than genuine community needs.''

Commission Chairman John Emerson said he is aware of the concerns about the district, and noted that ``this is a draft map, and we are going back to the Valley Monday night'' to hear reaction to it.

``The shape of this district was driven in large part by an effort to accommodate the various principles that we had adopted,'' which included a need to keep five whole districts wholly within the Valley, a federal requirement under the Voting Rights Act to give Latino voters proportional representation and a desire to keep communities such as Sunland and Tujunga in one piece.

One redistricting activist from the Sunland-Tujunga area appreciated the commission's effort to keep the two communities in the same district, especially after they were split in congressional redistricting last year.

``I'm very happy that they've got us together with La Tuna Canyon and Shadow Hills,'' said Elaine Brown, a director of the Chamber of Commerce of Sunland-Tujunga. She added, however, that she would have liked to have been included with other rural foothill areas like Sylmar.

Sunland and Tujunga residents will hold a meeting to rally opposition at 7 p.m. Friday at the Sunland-Tujunga Municipal Building, 7747 Foothill Blvd.

McAlpine said he hopes people from other communities, such as Encino, will join the effort to change the map and testify at Monday's hearing, which will run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Parkman Middle School, 20800 Burbank Blvd., Woodland Hills.

Another problem with the proposed District B, and its neighbor to the north, District A, is that it has become a campaign issue in the current runoff election between Cardenas and Greuel. The district was drawn but not given a number with the race in mind because of the uncertainty of which candidate will win.

Speaking at a Sunland-Tujunga candidates forum Tuesday night, Greuel urged residents to cast their ballots for her because Cardenas, who lives in proposed District A, would not be representing them should the map be adopted by the City Council by its June 30 deadline.

This problem was envisioned by Redistricting Commission member Richard Close, who was appointed by Wachs before he quit the council last fall.

``Both the chairman and I indicated that we did not want a map that would potentially influence the March 5 election,'' Close said. ``Something needs to be done in the near future to eliminate the district lines as an election issue.''

Possible solutions include redrawing the districts after Monday's hearing, and some insiders have said concern that the districts could hurt Cardenas - who is allied with City Council President Alex Padilla - could prompt such a move even earlier.

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Map:

REDISTRICTING IN THE VALLEY

A proposed arrangement for redefining city council voting districts is causing controversy among residents of the grey mapped area temporarily dubbed ``District B,'' shown in grey, so named because no active member of the city council currently lives withing its borders.

SOURCE: Los Angeles City Council Redistricting Commission