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“In towns and cities... there is no more important institution than the local paper.”
Warren Buffett
The City of La Mirada held the first of three public hearings on October 11 to gather community input to assist in setting City Council districts.
During the public hearing, Dr. Levitt of National Demographics Corporation (NDC) gave a presentation on draft City Council district maps and discussed the online district mapping tool that residents can use to participate in the process. Four map drafts are currently available online on the City’s website along with the district mapping tool where residents can suggest their own districts.
The City Council entered into an agreement with NDC for districting services at its September 13 meeting in an effort to help decide whether the City should proceed with modifying its elections from the current at-large system, where all voters elect all members of the City Council, to a by-district system, where only voters in a given district vote on the person to represent them.
NDCis responsible for developing a full districting demographic database using the latest available data; drafting and refining districting plans for public and City Council review; posting draft plans online for interactive review; attending City Council meetings; and implementing the final plan with the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters.
Criteria for the districts include that they be reasonably equal in population, in compliance with applicable federal and state law, geographically contiguous, and drawn with respect to geographic integrity of any neighborhood or community of interest to the extent possible.
An informational community meeting on Council districting will be held on Thursday, October 20 at 5:30 p.m. at La Mirada City Hall. The City will also be conducting two more public hearings on Tuesdays, October 25 and November 8 at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers. Residents are encouraged to attend these hearings and provide input on the district boundaries. If approved to move forward to a by-district system election, the final district map must be approved and adopted on November 8 to ensure it will be in effect by the March 2017 City Council election.
For more information, contact (562) 943-0131.