Not All of the Voices Were Heard About Redistricting

(Lisa Sarkin, vice president of the Studio City Neighborhood Council, has made her concerns heard about the redistricting boundaries of the Los Angeles City Council—striving to keep Studio City all in one district. See some of the back and forth in the stories below, but here is her latest concern.)

I will fill you in on the evidence...21 copies for the commissioners of 107 emails sent to me from Studio City stakeholders were given to Mr. (Andrew) Westall at the very beginning of Wednesday's meeting, but none of it was distributed to the commissioners. Many other documents brought in for the commissioners were given to them.  

Those of us attending the meetings were told to send, email, fax or bring in information for the commissioners, but none of it was transmitted to them, except an email from a Toluca Lake resident.

The evidence has been in the Patch over the last weeks of Mr. Westall's idea that Toluca Lake residents do not consider themselves part the Valley and that they do not identify with Studio City or North Hollywood.  The adjustment list of 76 issues accumulated by Mr. Westall had Greater Toluca Lake (population of about 12,000) on it three times referring to the overwhelming community desire to be in CD4, because 20 showed up, in green tee shirts at one meeting in Studio City.  

Nowhere on the list did it mention that the Presidents of  the Studio City, Valley Village and North Hollywood Neighborhood Councils and the Presidents of the Studio City Residents Association, Valley Village Homeowners Association and Valley Glen Neighborhood Association, who represent 240,000 people, supported the draft CD2 map which included all of the southeast Valley communities in a compact, communities of interest, diverse and contiguous district map.  The draft map was exactly how the maps should be drawn.

By making the move to put Toluca Lake into CD4, the Valley is back to the same terrible representation it has had for the last 10 years.  One very important goal the Redistricting Commission original adopted was that 5 2/3 council districts should be in the Valley to cover the population growth in the Valley.  Now that is all but forgotten and for what..."Tolucans do not identify with the Valley."  

BUT Mr. Westall may run for the state assembly in the 46 district, which is an all Valley district.  

Switching Toluca Lake to CD4 made a mockery of the process that is suppose to be none political.

The most famous residents of Toluca Lake was Bob Hope you constantly referred to his home in the beautiful San Fernando Valley.

Other sides of the issue . . . 

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* Read the Daily News story here.

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