Plan Could Shift North Hollywood Into New County District

The Board of Supervisors will hold an initial public hearing today on the potentially divisive issue of redrawing the political map of Los Angeles County to create a second Latino-majority supervisory district.

In clamoring for such a district, Latino activists argue that demographic shifts demand it, with census data showing Latinos make up 48 percent of the county population, up from 45 percent in 2000. Latinos also constitute one-third of the county's potential voters, up from a little more than one in four a decade ago.

"I hope the board is going to recognize the demographic changes in this county" Gloria Molina, the first nonwhite and first person of Latino heritage to be elected supervisor in Los Angeles County in more than a century, told the Los Angeles Times.

If another Latino-majority district is created, it could result in the first nonwhite Board of Supervisors majority in modern history and further reduce the clout of Republicans in county politics.

A plan backed by Molina and Latino activists would radically overhaul the districts of Republican Don Knabe of Cerritos and Democrat Zev Yaroslavsky of the Westside, according to The Times.

Knabe's largely white district, which hugs the county's western and southern coastal edges, would be redrawn as the new majority Latino district, shifting deeply into Molina's current district toward the eastern San Gabriel Valley, The Times reported.

Yaroslavsky, who currently represents North Hollywood, Studio City, Toluca Lake and Valley Village, would be forced to give up large swaths of the San Fernando Valley to Molina's new Central L.A. district, which would take in areas as far north as Sylmar and as far west as Canoga Park, according to the newspaper. Most of North Hollywood would be shifted to Molina's district under the plan, while Toluca Lake, Valley Village and Studio City would remain in Yaroslavsky's. North Hollywood Park and a few other small chunks would remain in Yaroslavsky's district. See the L.A. Times' comparision map here.

Yaroslavsky would pick up the western and southern parts of Knabe's district, including Long Beach, the South Bay and Republican-friendly territory on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Yaroslavsky, a possible Los Angeles mayoral candidate, is termed out of his county office in 2014. But Knabe, a Republican, is eligible for one more term and, under the Molina-backed plan, would reside in a more heavily Democratic district where 52 percent of adult U.S. citizens are Latino, compared with just 32 percent in the area he now represents.

In terms of total population, Knabe's district would be 62 percent Latino.

-- City News Service