All of the draft redistricting maps released last week in Long Beach change the boundaries of the Third City Council District to the point current City Councilwoman Suzie Price would have to either move or not run for reelection.
Other council members could be in the same situation, but only Price responded when everyone on the City Council was asked if they face being drawn out of their district. Elected officials’ home addresses are not subject to Public Records Act requests, although the city clerk has to know those addresses to verify people are eligible to run for office.
Long Beach voters in 2018 decided adjusting council borders — something done every 10 years to keep all districts relatively equal in terms of population — should be done by an independent commission. And that commission signaled early this year that traditional boundary lines would be ignored in favor of communities of interest.
On Wednesday, Oct. 13, the commission’s consultant, Redistricting Partners, submitted five draft maps — with an alternate for each draft with a less than 5% population deviation. Those maps and others submitted by the public will be reviewed Wednesday, Oct. 20. At that time, three maps will move forward for final consideration.
“My current home address would fall out of the proposed maps that the consultant has created,” Price wrote, “and therefore if the final map was one of those created without modification, and I remained living where I am, I would not be eligible to run in the third district in June 2022.”
Price has announced a run for reelection, as have all of the other representatives of the odd-numbered council districts. Candidates have until March 11, 2022, to file papers to run, and the commission has until Dec. 7 this year to finalize district boundaries. But people have to live in the district they are running in for at least 30 days before filing.
The municipal primary election is June 7, 2022.
City Clerk Monique De La Garza is the elections official for Long Beach. She said the rules for sitting council members drawn out of their districts is clear.
“If a Councilmember of an odd number district (1, 3, 5, 7, 9) is drawn out of their district, the Councilmember will remain until a new Councilmember was seated in December 2022,” she wrote in an email. “If a Councilmember of an even district (2, 4, 6, 8) is drawn out of their district, the Councilmember will remain until replaced by the 2024 election for the seat.”
A look at the proposed maps show pretty major changes for almost all districts. The only council member up for reelection next year certain to remain in the original district appears to be Stacy Mungo in the Fifth District. Mungo has said she is running for a third term in the residential east Long Beach district that includes the Long Beach Airport, although she has not filed papers with the city clerk. Other Fifth District candidates are former council member Gerrie Schipske (also seeking a third term) and attorney Michele Dobson.
Mungo did not respond to requests for comment. Price said nothing has been decided yet.
“I will have until Feb. 9 to establish residency in my district if I choose to remain a candidate for the reelection,” Price said. “At the current moment, I am a candidate for reelection in the Third District and I do live in the current Third District.
“For me, the bigger issue of the redistricting outcome is not necessarily who served in the council seat, whether it be me or anyone else,” she added, “but rather what’s the best for the community at large and making sure that the foundations of redistricting are followed as it relates to the many established communities that are currently in the Third District.”
Communities of interest drove the map-drawing process. Paul Mitchell, principal at Redistricting Partners, said a push to unite the Cambodian community was one driver.
The population target, 52,099 people in each district, must be met within 10%, and 5% is preferred. Add the requirement that districts must be one contiguous piece, and unifying communities of interest can be difficult.
Another community of interest called out by the commission is the LGBTQ population, concentrated primarily along the coast from downtown to Belmont Shore. The downtown community itself should be one district, commissioners said. Currently, downtown is split between the First and Second districts. Other commissioners called for clearer Latino representation, something Mitchell said is difficult because several districts are minority-majority, with Latinos as the largest minority.
Some members of the Independent Redistricting Commission said on Oct. 13 they could not attend the Oct. 20 meeting, which could push the choice of three semi-finalist maps a week. As it stands, at a meeting Oct. 27, the commission will take public testimony on the final three draft maps. A choice of the final map will take place at a Nov. 10 meeting under the current schedule.
A final map adoption hearing is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 18, also including public testimony. It will take a super-majority of the 13-member commission to approve a map.
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Long Beach City Council members could be drawn out of current districts if new boundaries adopted - Long Beach Press Telegram
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