Every local government entity which has single member districts must redraw those district lines every ten years. Redistricting at the small – local – level is very important. In many ways, it’s at the local level where people can have the greatest impact on government and influence policy that will affect their lives. We need to pay attention to these redistricting processes. Local redistricting means drawing district maps for these levels of government: County Boards Of Supervisors City Councils School Boards Community College Boards Special Districts: Water, Park, Transportation, etc. These are just few examples , and each of these may have different rules Until recently, most of these maps were drawn by elected officials, they drew their own lines -- many still do – with few rules beyond the California Brown Act, our “sunshine” law that requires local government business be conducted at open and public meetings. Some local governments have independent redistricting commissions, and some have appointed commissions with varying powers. Most local officials in the state, however, are still drawing their own maps Here’s the structure of redistricting in Los Angeles. As a Charter City, the voters of Los Angeles chose to create appointed redistricting commissions for the City and LAUSD Here’s what the charter mandates for the City Commission These are the ‘rules’ which govern how the commission draws the lines. And ultimately the City Council as well. How the commission and Council can – and do differ, is the question. Right now we’ll look at the commissions A minimum of four public hearings must be held, and accessibility in all its aspects must be respected. Our LWVC Local Redistricting Toolkit includes the details of these rules. But the important thing for you to remember is that these requirements are the minimum; the floor, not the ceiling. Many local jurisdictions are presenting the four hearings as the required number, nothing beyond that. Thus far it’s clear that the city commission is actively working to engage the public far beyond the minimum. Here are the League’s goals for redistricting in the City of Angels We want a transparent process at every level. We want full public participation at every level – with emphasis on communities or groups who have not been heard or represented well in the past. We want maps that are fair and reflect public input. As much as possible – maps that keep communities together in districts – again with a priority on communities who have been underrepresented. And we want best practices put in place To walk you through what LWVLA has been doing since last summer to achieve these goals – and what we’ll continue to do The CA Constitution describes it this way “A community of interest is a contiguous population which shares common social and economic interests that should be included within a single district for purposes of its effective and fair representation.” A community of residents who live nearby one another and share interests, economic levels, social or cultural ties. These could be shared interests in schools, housing, community safety, transit, health conditions, land use, environmental conditions, and/or other issues; ● common social and civic networks, including churches, mosques, temples, homeowner associations, and community centers, and shared use of community spaces, like parks and shopping centers; ● racial and ethnic compositions, cultural identities, and households that predominantly speak a language other than English; ● similar socio-economic status, including but not limited to income, home-ownership, and education levels; ● shared political boundary lines from other jurisdictions, such as school districts, community college districts, and water districts. The language of the CA constitution is pretty broad, deliberately so. When we wrote Prop 11 we didn’t want to limit people’s need to define themselves in 60/100 years by what was understood as a community of interest in 2008. Really important to understand that principle. As we look at COI in LA, here are some examples Having said, what are some clearly useful starting points for Los Angeles? These examples are recognized by the City as defined neighborhoods, COI. You can use them at least as a starting point. When drawing neighborhoods, COI you need to be specific about where they are and what the rationale is for calling yourself a neighborhood or COI. We’lexamples are recognized by the City as defined neighborhoods, COI. You can use them at least as a starting point. When drawing neighborhoods, COI you need to be specific about where they are and what the rationale is for calling yourself a neighborhood or COI. We’ll talk about that in a minute. Attendance districts are clearly defined. You could certainly describe your faith-based community with a little bit of study of a map of the city. And public transit routes are also reasonably useful. If you want to use a particular bus route/routes, then you can get a description of the route. I’m all ready to go. How do I do this? Name – whatever name you want. It doesn’t have to have an ‘official’ name. The name your neighborhood, COI uses is just fine. Streets – absolutely essential! My community is bordered on the north by 1st Avenue; on the east by Mary Blvd.; on the south by the north bound 82; and on the west by 35th Street. If you don’t give the street names, it’s exponentially harder for the line drawers, and ultimately the commission – to create maps that accurately include your community. That’s why I gave some of the examples. Why – describe what makes you a neighborhood or COI? Common interests? Problems? Why you need to be kept whole in order to speak to your representative Extra – if you’re too small to be a district, then tell the commission what neighborhood/COI next to you shares your common interests and you’d like to be kept together with them. This will enable all of you to influence your elected official. You could also describe what neighborhood/COI next to you doesn’t share common interests and so you wouldn’t want to be included in a district with them. • HTTPS://WWW.COMMONCAUSE.ORG/CALIFORNIA/WPCONTENT/ UPLOADS/SITES/29/2021/04/TEMPLATE-FORCOMMUNITY- OF-INTEREST-TESTIMONY-1.PDF • HTTPS://DRAWMYCACOMMUNITY.ORG You’ve got your map and description – where does it go? And how? You can submit it to the commission in a number of ways. Via a public hearing once they start. On paper through the mail. As a PDF doc that you send via email. So what about computer apps? The COI tool created for the state redistricting commission can’t be used for local redistricting. (Explain why.) But you certainly could go online and play around with it. Nifty tutorial. And you could use the tool as a template to help you visualize how you’d create a map for the local commissions. There are other tools out there; RedistrictR is one of them. You could play around with those and see if they work for local. If you’re serious about submitting a map to the city/LAUSD, I’d urge you to ‘practice’ for a bit. The commission isn’t taking testimony yet and although anything you submit now will be used, it’s probably wiser to wait until the commission has announced guidelines, best practices for how to submit maps. Same is true for state.