Letters to the Editor: A new L.A. council district map that makes sense? Yes please!
On March 2, the Los Angeles City Council voted 3-2 not to approve a new city council district map that would add more competitive districts to Los Angeles.
The proposed new map would have added the Westside to a five-district City Council map which is already composed of six districts.
The new map would have added the Downtown, Eastside, Watts/Mid-City, Westwood and West Los Angeles districts to what has now become the City Council of five districts.
The Los Angeles Times reported in a recent editorial that, “An accurate representation of the voting districts is critical to a functional democracy.”
However, the Council majority vote last week seems to be based on an argument that more competitive districts would dilute voting power in the current two-district City Council map.
On the other hand, the proposed map was based on the assumption that, “More districts means less voting power,” according to the Times editorial.
With its new map, in addition to the addition of the Westside, there would be a slight increase in voter turnout in the current four-district City Council since the last map, according to the Times editorial.
The same logic would argue that a fifth district would not dilute voting power in the current four-district City Council map since it would be larger than the current single district.
To me, the issue is not whether voting power in the current four-district City Council map would be diluted by more competitive districts, but whether voters in the City Council districts already in place would be.
Although I am not so sure the Council majority argument that more competitive districts would dilute voting power is correct, I did agree with the Times editorial that the proposed map would be more reflective of what the voters want.
I did not endorse the plan at the time, but now that we have the final map, I see where the logic of the Council majority argument was flawed.
I am still not sure it is the best choice, but I do respect the argument.
As a resident of Watts, I would like to see the Council make a similar move and propose a district map that makes sense.
When I lived in Watts the