Time for Re-Districting

Gerrie Schipske

Despite the US Supreme Court ruling that the Census count needs to stop the end of October, the Census Bureau has reported that 99% of everyone has been counted. Once the figures are released then Long Beach (and all political districts) will begin a process of re-drawing boundary lines to reflect the current population.

In Long Beach, each council district must be equal in population. Most of the changes in population are in downtown, central, westside and north Long Beach. The City Charter requires that redistricting be done every five years, but the City Council voted to postpone it last time.

So how does this work?

Q. How does the City of Long Beach conduct re-districting after the census?

A. Traditionally, the City of Long Beach City Council drew and re-drew the boundary lines for each Council District. Nov. 6, 2018, voters approved Measure DDD – City of Long Beach Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. The measure amended the City Charter to create a Commission of Long Beach residents to determine the boundaries of Council Districts every ten years after the national census. The Commission is comprised of 13 members and 2 alternates and will act as an independent body.

Q. Why is the Port of Long Beach physically located in the 1st Council district but gerrymandered into the 2nd district?

A. First let’s define “gerrymandered.” The word was coined in 1812 by the Boston Gazette, which referred to the shape of a newly drawn Massachusetts Senate district as resembling in shape a “salamander.” The surname of Governor Elbridge Gerry, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was added because he signed the bill allowing the carving out of districts to keep one political party in power. Currently, gerrymandering means the configuration of political boundaries in a manner that benefits one political party or politician over another.

In 1971, all council districts were aligned with their geographical location. This means that the Port of Long Beach which is physically located near the downtown of the city was in the 1st Council District and not the 2nd District as it is now.  

The City Charter directed the City Council to redistrict every five years, which it did in 1991, changing the boundaries of several districts including the 1st, which lost the port, the 2nd, which gained it and the 3rd District which was given Bluff Park.

Arguably the changes in the 1st District were made to make it more difficult for the incumbent, Evan Braude, to retain his seat. The 2nd District gift to the 3rd was done to try and keep Alan Lowenthal from running against Wally Edgerton in the 2nd. (He ran in 1992 and defeated Edgerton.)

Q. So how did the Nature Center area get drawn into the 4th Council District when it does not even connect?

A. In 2001, the City Council had its chance again to draw lines and balance population. The only fight stemmed from the 4th district councilmember complaining that he did not have the same amount of parkland as the 5th district. So magically, the Nature Center was put into the 4th Council District. Not one residence of the 4th connects with the Nature Center and is surrounded by residents of the 5th but the 4th District got one more park.

Q. What happened in 2011 with the 7th and 8th Council Districts?

A. They were re-drawn and the 7th District took in part of the 8th District. This was done to balance the growth in population.

Q. What does the current boundaries map look like? Will there be adjustments of the district lines before the 2022 election?

A. The current map was done in 2010. Yes, there will be adjustments. Hopefully, the Independent Committee will put the port and the nature center back where they belong. The other boundaries will be adjusted depending upon population counts. District 5 has few apartments and condos so population rarely increases but to balance the growth in other areas, we may see District 5 expand its southern borders so that it has an almost equal amount of residents as the other 8 districts. 

gerrie@beachcomber.news

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