Splitting Up San Pedro
Redistricting Commission could divide San Pedro along Assembly lines
The 2020 California Citizens Redistricting Commission is proposing separating San Pedro between two Assembly districts, according to the Dec. 8 draft of the commission’s map. However, the commission is proposing unifying San Pedro in one congressional district, according to the Dec. 13 draft of the commission’s map. For the past ten years, it has been split between two congressional districts, said Dan Dixon, board member of the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council.
The commission had kept the entirety of San Pedro in the same Assembly district until Dec. 3, said Shannon Ross, president of the San Pedro Democratic Club.
“The line for the Assembly districts runs up Western Avenue to 19th Street, over 19th Street to Gaffey, and then north on Gaffey,” Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council President Doug Epperhart said. “It essentially puts all of northwest into an Assembly district with Torrance and I believe Redondo Beach. The rest of San Pedro, most of coastal and I think pretty much all of central, would then go into an Assembly district with Wilmington and on up to Harbor Gateway and Compton.
The Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council held an emergency meeting on Dec. 6 to pass a motion 14-0 to oppose splitting San Pedro between Assembly, Congressional and Senate districts. Ross called the meeting after attending the commission’s meetings and noticing the changes on Dec. 3. She also put out a petition stating the same thing, which has gathered 388 signatures as of press time.
“I felt like it was urgent, that we … take a position and make a comment to ensure that all of San Pedro was in one Assembly district,” Ross said. “We get better representation, clearly, if we’re together, and we have one Assembly member. We’re stronger, and [have] larger voting numbers.” The Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council also passed a motion 12-2, with two abstentions, urging that San Pedro be in only one district. Board members Craig Goldfarb and Cynthia Gonyea opposed the motion, John DiMeglio and Tom Norman abstained.
The ILWU Southern California District Council released a press release opposing the splitting San Pedro between Assembly districts.
“As a critical part of the local economy we should not have our political and community interests divided up for the political power of the few,” wrote Floyd E. Bryan, president of the ILWU Southern California District Council. “We have our own issues being a port community including air pollution, traffic, noise and light pollution from the shipping industry that surrounds our community. We deserve a singular
voice, not one or two, each following their own agenda.”
San Pedro resident Pat Nave argued that this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and used San Pedro being previously split between congressional districts as an example.
“We felt diminished initially,” Nave said. “This turned out, I think, to be a boon to us actually, because we’ve had two congressional offices to go to. And I think that the elected representatives, when they hear San Pedro, they don’t really differentiate between where you live. … It actually gives us more power to be represented by more than one member.”
Greg Ellis, board member of the Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council, said that this was a problem for coastal San Pedro in particular.
“Looking at the most recent version of the Assembly district maps, which used Western Avenue as a boundary between the two proposed assembly districts, could end up having a really disproportionate effect on coastal San Pedro,” Ellis said. “Because it really cuts our neighborhood in half, or at least close to in half.”
Board member Noel Gould suggested this could be an attempt at some form of gerrymandering.
“Our Assembly member, Patrick O’Donnell, really listened to our community and opposed SB 9 and SB 10, which are these attempts by the state legislature to allow eight units of market rate [housing] on single family lots that are existing now,” Gould said. “We have people in our local government here who are attempting to … massively up-zone San Pedro as much as possible and to market rate rather than affordable, and by chopping San Pedro up that would reduce the influence [of] that particular Assembly member who actually listened to our community.”
Under the new redistricting, half of San Pedro would be under Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, and the other half would be under Assemblyman Mike Gipson, Ross said.
Ross said that there are only a couple of people from San Pedro participating in the commission’s redistricting meetings. The meetings are held almost every day, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., though they can get out much later.
“It’s daunting, and they’re during the day,” Ross said. “So, I know that it’s difficult for folks in our community. I feel like it’s purposely made difficult.”
Ross argued it would be easy for the commission to change it back.
“The area isn’t insanely big, so it doesn’t make a huge difference on the map boundary in regards to putting us back together,” Ross said. “So I think if we come in really strong right now,
I’ve been making phone calls all day to have people … call in and email in, and I’m hoping that we make a big enough impact today for them to kind of put us back together.”
In addition, Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council’s motion urges the Los Angeles County Redistricting Commission to not split up San Pedro over supervisorial district boundaries.
“That’s a separate commission,” Epperhart said. “It urges the same thing, that San Pedro be kept whole, because they are now considering three maps that would again, take our current supervisor, Janice Hahn, and move her into a district that is almost entirely out of San Pedro. So pretty much all of coastal would end up with a different county supervisor.”