Passionate Speeches Given by Studio City Residents

Studio City and Toluca Lake representatives made passionate speeches over the three hours of public hearings at the Los Angeles City Hall council members session discussing redistricting plams.

This could very well be the final chance for community members to let themselves be heard.

A majority of discussion came from members of District 8 and the African-American community, the Korean community and also many people spoke on behalf of the dispute between Toluca Lake and Studio City.

Other speakers included people concerned with Encino borders and others who objected to the entire process all together. Others threatened lawsuits.

"I'm mad and not going to take it anymore!" said Studio City Neighborhood Council vice president Lisa Sarkin. "I've been waiting 61 years for this to happen. You need to do the right thing."

Studio City is one of the handful of neighborhood council districts that was divided between three city districts in the past. Early versions had a compact square district that included Toluca Lake, but then residents said they wanted to be put back into District 4, where they have been with Tom LaBonge and Hollywood communities outside the San Fernando Valley.

"We had the perfect map," Sarkin added. "But then Toluca Lake didn't want to be in a district with us, and because of that, they affected all the other communities and districts around them."

Sarkin also said, "I brought a box of 107 emails to the redistricting committee and they never got distributed. I think this is a flawed process."

One of the redistricting committee members, Susan Kim, received a lot of applause and some standing ovation by saying, "Before you vote on the map I want to let you know there are flaws in the process. The initial map was done in secret and in violation of the Brown act. In those closed meetings, race was the sole reason in deciding in several districts including and not limited to CD10."

Studio City Neighborhood Council president John Walker, who encouraged supporters to be dressed in white, pointed out that he served on many city committees and empathized with the work that the commissioners did.

"There is a map we discovered that would connect Toluca Lake to the rest of CD4 without any encroachment on Studio City," Walker said. "I'm not sure why that this has not been entertained and embraced. This is supposed to be a democratic process, not political."

In her notes that she wasn't able to read in the one minute allowed per speaker, Sarkin sent a letter to the council members, "If Toluca Lake does not want to be in CD 2, then let them connect to CD 4 but do not do it at expense of other areas. The amendment presented by Mr. Krekorian is the right way to let Toluca Lake have what they want and let Studio City have what we want. The Campo and the Metro Station has never been part of Toluca Lake and doesn't even touch it."