Political Lines Finalized for Northeast L.A.

The California Citizens Redistricting Commission has approved a final set of maps, effectively integrating the vast majority of Northeast Los Angeles into a single electoral district and including East Los Angeles into a single community as well.

The approval caps a process that began in 2008, when voters endorsed the new redistricting commission to replace an older system whereby the state Legislature handled the redistricting process that is done every 10 years.

“For far too long Californians have been frustrated by a legislative process that drew districts that primarily supported the re-election of incumbent legislators,” the commission’s chairman Vincent Barabba said at a news conference Monday, immediately after which the new maps were sent to the office of California’s secretary of state for certification.

“Based on that, the match that we adopted today did not consider incumbents, potential candidates and political party registration in drawing the districts,” Barabba said, adding that of the 765 congressional and legislative district elections held since 2002, a year after the previous redistricting process, only five seats have changed political parties.

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The new maps, endorsed on July 29 by the 14-member commission, differ slightly from those initially proposed in June.

Impact on Eagle Rock

The new maps, which can be viewed on your right or on an interactive map here, would decrease the representation that Eagle Rock as well as its neighbors such as Glassell Park, Highland Park and Mount Washington, currently enjoy in the state senate and assembly. But at the same time, Eagle Rock—which lies in the 44th state assembly district, the 29th and 31st U.S. congressional districts and the 21st California senate district—will also be merged with East Los Angeles, ending Eagle Rock’s shared representation with San Gabriel Valley cities and towns.

Who’s eligible, Who’s Not

Here is an overview of which politicians are no longer eligible to represent their current districts, and who will be eligible to run for reelection in 2012:

Xavier Becerra (D-CA) 31st U.S. Congressional District

Status: Eligible

Becerra said the following in a statement released following the announcement of the final district boundaries in July:

"For the past 18 years it has been my great privilege to speak as a progressive voice in Congress for the hardworking families who live in the central and eastern portions of the city of Los Angeles.  The newly approved 34th Congressional District keeps intact a majority of these communities that I serve today and includes several communities I represented during my first decade in Congress. I feel deeply connected to the diverse and engaged communities in the part of Los Angeles that I call home, and I intend to ask them for another term as their elected representative and chief advocate in Washington, D.C."

Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada-Flintridge) 44th California Assembly District

Status: Not Eligible

Portantino, a resident of La Cañada-Flintridge, will not be eligible to run for reelection in the assembly district that represents Highland Park and Mount Washington as well as Eagle Rock. However, Portantino has already announced his intentions to run for United States Congress in 2012.

Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) 45th California Assembly District

Status: Termed Out

Though Cedillo is a resident of Lincoln Heights and would be eligible to run for reelection in the newly defined assembly district that comprises much of Northeast Los Angeles, his term limit expires in 2012.

Carol Liu (D-La Cañada-Flintridge) 21st California State Senate District

Status: Not Eligible

Carol Liu, who resides in La Cañada Flintridge, is now no longer able to represent the sliver of Northeast Los Angeles that was previously included in her district. Representatives from Liu's officer told Patch they were not able to comment on the redistricting issue during business hours, as it was a "political matter." 

Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) 22nd California State Senate District

Status: Eligible

De León lives in Mount Washington and would be eligible to continue representing Highland Park and Mount Washington. He would also take on the neighborhood of Eagle Rock if elected in 2012.

De León's district director, Steve Veres, said the following about the proposed district lines in July:

"We would continue to represent a good 60 to 70 percent of the neighborhoods we have represented in the past, such as Mount Washington and parts of Highland Park. Areas that are split in half, either because they're divided by Figueroa [Street] or by the border of Los Angeles would all be in one district. What would be new to the district would be places like Los Feliz, Koreatown and unincorporated East Los Angeles. It's an interesting mix—there's only a handful of areas we haven't worked in before and Eagle Rock is going to be one of those, but we're familiar with it because of our work in Highland Park."