Latino Activists Plan Own Hearings on Redistricting

Calling Los Angeles’ planned reapportionment hearings a “sham,” a group of Latino activists said Monday that it will hold separate community meetings in an effort to ensure that City Council members are fair in redrawing the council district boundaries.

The first of four public hearings, conducted by the council’s Charter and Election Committee, is set to begin later this week in the San Fernando Valley as the City of Los Angeles strives to produce a new redistricting plan.

The current reapportionment plan, adopted in 1982, is the target of a court challenge by the U.S. Justice Department alleging that it discriminates against Latino voters.

But Antonio Rodriguez of the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice urged city officials to delay the start of their formal hearings and shift the time and location of the public meetings to allow more working people in the Latino community to attend.

Rodriguez, appearing at a news conference, said that two of the scheduled sessions--near Latino neighborhoods in downtown Los Angeles and Sun Valley--are during the day and that none are scheduled in East Los Angeles with its heavy concentration of Latinos.

“This leads us to believe that the hearings have been scheduled in such a manner so as to minimize the participation of the Latino community in the drawing up of this new reapportionment plan,” he said in announcing a community meeting next Monday in Boyle Heights on the reapportionment issue.

Proposal Ignored

Rodriguez added that the council has ignored one redistricting proposal submitted by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and has made it clear that the council will not draw districts that would endanger incumbent council members.

“That, in effect, tells us that they have already prejudged what they’re going to do,” Rodriguez said. “They have set up the railroad, and we will end up with nothing else but another set of sham hearings like in 1982.”

The reapportionment plan that grew out of those 1982 hearings was attacked in a federal lawsuit filed last November. In the civil suit, the U.S. Justice Department claimed that Los Angeles officials had “fractured” the growing influence of Latinos by diluting their voting strength in several council districts.

Although the council vigorously denied any wrongdoing, its members agreed last month to redraw their political boundaries.

“I didn’t think there was any sham about it,” Council President Pat Russell said Monday of the 1982 hearings. She also dismissed fears that the Latino community would be snubbed in the new hearings and said both night and daytime meetings are scheduled to accommodate residents.

In addition to the hearings in San Fernando Valley and downtown City Hall, night meetings are scheduled for Central Los Angeles and the Hollywood area.

‘A Lot of Hogwash’

Councilman Richard Alatorre, the chairman of the council’s Charter and Elections Committee, had prepared the schedule of public hearings but could not be reached for comment. However, other members of his committee denied that there were any attempts to minimize controversy in the scheduling of the hearings.

“I think that’s a lot of hogwash,” said Councilman Hal Bernson.

“I’m open to additional hearings if necessary,” said Councilman Michael Woo, “. . . but it seems to me that if people really wanted to attend, they could attend one of the four meetings.”

However, Linda Wong, associate counsel for MALDEF, said many feel that they will be ignored.

“The obvious impression left with a lot of Hispanics is that the public hearing process is not a genuine process,” she said. “It is not designed to secure community feedback. Hispanics have been through this before, and in 1982 many felt they were burned because the council took testimony and ignored it. The second time around, many are more cynical.”

In addition to Wong and Rodriguez, those backing those concerns include former members of Californios for Fair Representation, which had protested the 1982 plan.

Rodriguez said next Monday’s meeting in Boyle Heights will be held at 7 p.m. in the Community Service Organization at 2130 East 1st St.