Filipinos, other Asians, urged to attend redistricting hearings

Los Angeles City Council Redistricting Commissioner Helen B. Kim says attending public hearings on redistricting is important, especially for affected communities, which involves public safety, transportation services and even the creation of public parks.

Photo: Rhony Laigo/BNS

District boundaries involve public safety, transport services, parks, etc.

By Rhony Laigo

Asian Pacific Islanders, in particular Filipinos, are being urged to attend the remaining redistricting hearings being conducted by the Los Angeles City Council Redistricting Commission to hear it straight from the members of the community their concerns as they draw the final boundaries of the City of Los Angeles districts.

In a news conference held Wednesday at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in downtown Los Angeles, Redistricting Commissioners Robert Ahn, Helen B. Kim, David Roberts, Chairman Arturo Vargas and Executive Director Andrew Westall, invited Angelenos to participate in the redistricting process of the city which takes place only every 10 years.

In particular are the members of the Asian and Pacific Islander communities, which comprise around 15 percent of the city population, according to Kim. “The commission needs to hear from you,” she said. “We want to know if you want to be divided or remain as a whole in one particular district.” Kim said redistricting affects public safety, transportation, city services, and parks in the neighborhoods.

Kim also said one of the most important aspects of redistricting is public accountability to define which council member will be responsible for issues affecting a certain locality.

During the news conference, Kim made mention of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which affected a long stretch of Korean businesses on Vermont, but belong to four separate districts. She said these hampered efforts in rebuilding the areas that were burned down in the conflagration that was caused by the Rodney King beating by LAPD officers because of the boundaries, which fall on separate responsibilities of at least one council member.

In addition, although the area is called Koreatown, half of the folks who live in the area as tenants are of Hispanic origin. However, Kim said, despite the ethnic differences “they share the same hurdles in the same community regardless if they are Koreans or Latinos.”

As for Filipinos, there seemed to be little interest coming from this particular group as shown by their almost lack of participation in the past hearings.

According to Westall, only a handful of Filipinos attended last December 13 in the District 13 hearing that includes Eagle Rock, where many Filipinos reside. He however said that another hearing will take place between Feb. 1 and 11 at Occidental College and is urging Filipinos in Eagle Rock to participate in the hearings. He said any person is given two minutes to speak at the podium if they attend any of the public hearings in their district.
 

Westall said, “You actually don’t have to be in the hearing. You can email us or visit the website at http://redistricting2011.lacity.org and write us your suggestions or concerns if you are not used to speaking in public.”

For his part, Robert said “We encourage everyone to participate and engage in this. He said redistricting means delineating boundaries that will affect the communities, including locating businesses, recycling centers and even the creation of public parks.

Ahn reiterated that since the redistricting process is held only every 10 “it is therefore very important that you come down and attend the hearings so we can hear from you. It will take another 10 years for this process to take place after the boundaries have been set.”

There are 15 L.A. City Council district boundaries. Aside from Eagle Rock, the other place where Filipinos abound are in the famous Filipinotown located within District 13 and areas of District 1 (Chinatown).

The commissioners urged Filipinos to attend the January 9 hearing for District 13 that will take place at the Los Angeles City College Theater at 6:30 p.m.

Information about the redistricting process can be accessed from the commission’s website at http://redistricting2011.lacity.org in several languages including Tagalog, Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Thai, Armenian, Korean and Spanish.
 

Final drawing of the map will be done by the Los Angeles City Council, which doesn’t have an API representative, by July, this year. The final map proposal will  be submitted to the LA City Council by March. 1.