New Redistricting Draft Map Puts Toluca Lake Back in CD4

Many people in Toluca Lake voiced strong opposition to the rough draft maps of new Los Angeles city district lines that were released by the Los Angeles City Council Redistricting Commission in January. The draft maps planned to move Toluca Lake out of Tom LaBonge's Council District 4 and into the new Council District 2, which is represented by Paul Krekorian and would include all of Studio City, North Hollywood and most of Valley Village.

After a series of public meetings, including one at Walter Reed Middle School last Thursday where about two dozen people wore green shirts showing support for Toluca Lake to remain in Tom LaBonge’s drastically-redrawn district, it appears the protests of the Toluca Lake contingent have been heard. New draft maps released Friday night show Toluca Lake, Toluca Woods, West Toluca Lake and Toluca Terrace all moving back into CD4. The Tolucans are united together by the leadership of the Greater Toluca Lake Neighborhood Council, whose president, Andrew Westall, is also executive director of the Redistricting Commission.

The new map also pulls Encino and Lake Balboa out of CD4, as well as move all of Valley Village into CD2. The previous draft map had part of Valley Village in CD4. A portion of Sun Valley along the western edge of Bob Hope Airport has been added to CD2, and a small portion of Studio City east of the 170 freeway has been put back into CD4. A small portion of North Hollywood near Toluca Lake also was added to CD4.

The previous draft map was much tighter in following neighborhood council lines in the East Valley, with all of Studio City in CD2. The first draft map also would have created a distinct northern border for CD2 following the exact borders between the North Hollywood North East Neighborhood Council and the NoHo West Neighborhood Council with the Sun Valley Neighborhood Council.

Perhaps no proposed district in the first map was as publicly questioned as CD4. The L.A. Weekly said the first draft map of CD4 "stretches about 10 miles across Los Angeles -- beginning on the gritty (if gentrifying) Eastside, meandering through the extravagant Hollywood Hills and ending up in the center of the Valley, which might as well be another country."

LaBonge himself expressed great dismay at the first draft map.

"The only common thread here is the Canadian geese that migrate from the Encino Reservoir to the Silver Lake Reservoir," LaBonge told the Los Angeles Times.

The new maps still show LaBonge losing the NoHo Arts District, where he has cut the ribbon on many new development projects over the last 10 years, including the recently-opened NoHo Laemmle 7. But few from the Arts District spoke out at the Walter Reed meeting, while the Toluca Lake group's opposition to losing LaBonge and CD4 was loud.

“All of the organized groups in the Toluca Lake area, even the elementary school, are opposed to the move,” said Peter Hartz, president of the Toluca Lake Homeowners Association, at the meeting at Walter Reed. “We need to stay unified with the issues that surround us, such as Universal Studios and their proposed expansion and issues involving Griffith Park. We have good representation now, and we don’t want to disrupt it.”

The strong opposition expressed by the Toluca Lake group to being included in CD2 angered some, including Studio City Neighborhood Council Vice President Lisa Sarkin, who in a letter to the Redistricting Commission said, "The statements made were the worse Nimbism I have heard in a very long time."

The map will be discussed at the commission's next meeting, which is scheduled for Wednesday, and it must submit its final map to the Los Angeles City Council by March 1.

Westall is a former aide and close political ally of new City Council President Herb Wesson, and his appointment to the redistricting commission has not been without controversy. Westall's appointment was opposed by City Councilman Bernard Parks, according to Los Angeles Times.

Parks wrote the commission last week alleging that Westall directed a profanity at one of his staff members, according to the The L.A. Times.

"Mr. Westall told one of my employees: Tell your boss to go F himself," Parks wrote. "To clarify, Mr. Westall did not stop at the letter F."

Westall's close relationship with Wesson has also brought out accusations of backroom deals in how the district lines are being drawn, as well as the use of redistricting as political payback.

Councilwoman Jan Perry accused Wesson of gutting her district because she did not back his bid to become council president, according to The L.A. Times. Parks and Wesson have also been at odds due to Parks not supporting his bid, and the draft maps issued in January actually moved Parks' home out of his district. It's all part of a new harder-edged political era Wesson is bringing to the city council, The L.A. Times reported.

Commissioner Helen Kim said the redistricting changes were "absolutely" designed to punish Perry and Parks, according to The L.A. Times. "Parks has just gotten written out of the district where he lives. You don't think that's a slap in the face?" she said.

Wesson also stripped Parks and Perry of their seats on powerful committees. But Wesson has denied using the redistricting process as political payback.

"No single person controls this commission, not even the president," Wesson said in a statement, according to The L.A. Times.