Los Al moving to Long Beach Congressional District this Friday
June 8, 2011 in Uncategorized By: Dave Emerson
(6/8/2011, Los Alamitos)Tuesday morning the Los Alamitos City got half of what they wanted, and weren’t too pleased about it.
The state is in the midst of redrawing lines for Districts for Congress, State Senate, and State Assembly for the next ten years, using the data from the 2010 census. This year the voters wisely took the process out of the politicians hands and gave it to a non partisan commission with instructions to draw logical, contiguous lines instead of the crazy jerrymandered districts we’ve seen in the past.
Now many politicians are screaming “foul,” including several of our Council Members, whose City Council districts aren’t affected at all.
The main focus in Los Alamitos at Monday’s City Council Meeting was having Los Alamitos switched to a Congressional District that included Newport Beach and Huntington Beach, instead of inland O.C. cities Cypress, Stanton, and Garden Grove, among others.
So our City Council directed our City Manager to oppose the change of Congressional Districts then on the table.
On Tuesday morning, the Council got half their wish as the Commission issued a new preliminary Congressional District map, moving Los Alamitos and Rossmoor from the Newport & Huntington Beach District to L.A. County’s Long Beach District. Not exactly what the Council had asked for.
It seems logical to me to keep Los Alamitos connected with neighboring communities with the same school district (Seal Beach) at a minimun. Right now that’s not the case with the 2012 – 2020 proposal for our Congressional , Assembly,or Senate Districts.
The Assembly and Senate Districts stay in Orange County, but connect us with the inland cities Council Membrs Edgar and Poe seem to like: Cypress, Stanton, and Garden Grove. However we, along with Cypress, Stanton, and Garden Grove, are switched from Jim Silva’s 67th Assembly District to the 68th District of Costa Mesa’s Allan Mansoor.
It also makes sense to group communities in the same County, which is the case with our Assembly District, but I’m guessing the numbers from the 2010 census resulted in the need to split at least one Congressional District between LA. and Orange Counties.
We do share a lot with Long Beach, including our area code. In fact, about as many Los Alamitos homeowners subscribe to the Long Beach Press Telegram as do to the Orange County Register or the Los Angeles Times, for that matter. And more Los Alamitos home buyers come from Long Beach and Lakewood than any other communities.
Still, it makes sense to me to include Seal Beach in that mix, which also adjoins Long Beach, has the 562 area code, and shares our school district.
Los Alamitos Republicans who might have been thinking of running for higher office might especially object to the switch of the Congressional District to a predominantly Democratic District, but I’m not so sure it’s all that bad, especially if our fellow Los Alamitos USD city of Seal Beach was included.
City Council Members who might have their eye set on higher office might also object to the State Assembly District changes if they were targeting a District where the incumbent was going to be termed out soon, and now got an incumbent with a longer tenure.
This process will last until August, but if you want to express your concerns to the Redistricting Commission, you can do so online by clicking here.
I’m not really sure which plan is best for Los Alamitos, but I hope that our Council Members are putting the good of our town ahead of their own political futures. Sadly, I don’t always get the impression that’s the case.
Click here for Roxana Kopetman’s online OC Register article.
Click here for Paige Austin’s Patch article, which has some great quotes from Council Members Edgar and Poe, apparently before the new plan was released Tuesday morning.
As always, your thoughtful comments and perspective, diplomatically expressed in polite language, preferably with a consistent name or pen name, are welcome!
Public comment period is now. Speak up now or live with whatever they decide.
Why is Troy so outspoken about this? He has never stood up for Los Al Residents before…why would he start now?!
Obviously this affects his personal agenda. One could only imagine what he stands to loose in his future political aspirations should this re-districting plan move forward. Once again, Troy fights for his own personal ambitions and the Los Al Residents are shown to be his personal stepping stones.
Why do people keep posting under different names every time they post?
Dave here. Good question! As I’ve said before, friends (& “foes,” although I try not to have any foes) please use a consistent name or pen name, if not as the “name” in the post, then at the beginning of the comment.
(Many people periodically scan through the comments list in the right hand column, which just lists “names,”so it is helpful to indicate your topic in the “name” section of the “Comment” form. Frequently the topic can be combined with the name, for example “Dave E. on Gophers,” but sometimes, to keep the “name” relatively brief you may prefer to put the topic under “name” and then identify yourself at the beginning of your comment, “Ann here,” for example.)
Special thanks go to the many individuals who use their own name, but pen names are acceptable. In this town, unfortunately, some people may feel the need to use them. Hopefully we can all learn to be more civil and respectful of those of differing opinions.
So thanks, “Who is” for helping me make an important point. Hopefully you’ll be able to help by leading by example. Maybe even posting under your actual name. . . but that’s your call.
That is such a sad statement. That we can’t have civilized discussion on a city local blog without the need for some people to fear for their identity.
who are you??? funny you would ask, and remain name free yourself.
As a politics dummy, I’d like to ask: So what’s the big deal? How is this redistricting going to impact us negatively?