Braswell Fights District Map That Splits Valley Village

The president of the Valley Village Neighborhood Council reiterated his opposition to the latest redrawing of the congressional district map in the Los Angeles area.

During the Neighborhood Council's monthly meeting on Wednesday at Colfax Elementary School, council President Tony Braswell said the new map cuts off about 18 percent of Valley Village into a different congressional district.

The area being remapped into a separate district is nestled along the 170 Freeway bordered by Colfax Avenue to the west and Riverside Drive to the south.

According to a , this would cut off about 464 homes in the community.

Braswell said he had been pushing the redistricting commission to redraw the new lines.

"We don't know if it's going to work, but we're yelling as loud as we can. Valley Village should be [within] one congressional district," he said. "I've been on the phone with them every second day since July. I was assured the message was getting through, but there's no evidence of that."

Joshua Levy, a member of the council, said the redistricting commission failed to use the local freeways as proper guides for the new districts.

Braswell agreed, and added that he believed the committee had simply used ZIP codes in the area to determine the new map. He alleged that the reasoning behind using ZIP codes may have been so that letter campaigns during elections could be better tailored to the new districts.

The area being separated is in the 91601 area code, while the rest of Valley Village is in the 91607 area code.

While Braswell said he was lobbying the city hard to prevent this new map from becoming a reality, other members of the council suggested that the Voting Rights Act would be Valley Village's last line of defense.

The new districts are being drawn by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, which, as voted by California residents, is made up of citizens rather than politicians.