California,  California Citizens Redistricting Commission,  Elton Gallegly

California Congressional Redistricting: Visualizations Have Thousand Oaks Thrown Into Democratic San Fernando Valley District

Map courtesy of Redistricting Partners

Yes, it looks like the Conejo Valley of which Thousand Oaks is a part (where I live) will be merged with the West San Fernando Valley and its predominate Democratic registration. GOP Rep. Elton Gallegly will no longer be my congressman.

Western and southern portions of the San Fernando Valley were drawn into a district that extends into the Ventura County’s Conejo Valley.  This would make the San Fernando Valley vote most important in the district.  Brad Sherman and Howard Berman are drawn into the same seat, but this is much more a Brad Sherman district based on where these two members of congress have run and won in the past.

Not really wonderful.

The visualizations could very well change by the release of the drafts on Friday, and most likely will change before final versions are issued no later than Aug. 15.

I can only hope.

8 Comments

  • Anonymous

    Wow, I know it can’t be easy to decide where to draw the lines, but…San Fernado Valley and Conejo Valley have nothing in common beyond having “valley” in both of their names. Might as well be in two different states! I hope they re-think this line…

    • Gregory Flap Cole

      Yeah, you would think that the Redistricting Commission would group together the Conejo Valley, Mailbu, Simi Valley, Camarillo, Moorpark and Port Hueneme.

      But, who knows where the final lines will go?

      • Anonymous

        I’d imagine it’s not easy,but…last week they were talking about grouping Ojai with Santa Barbara (huh??) So I’d think there are still a few kinks to work out…

        • Gregory Flap Cole

          I will wait until Friday, but I know there will be many complaints and then court action, if the majority of the complaints are not resolved.

          As they say, it is not over until the fat lady sings, and she is not even in the ball park yet.

          I don’t think this Commission could do any worse job than the current redistricting/reapportionment in any case.

          California has just demographically become a very Democrat state, such as New York and Massachusetts.

          • Anonymous

            Just looked at the maps you posted links for, and yeah, they can’t do any worse than the current system.

            Now it looks like most of Santa Barbara county could get put together with San Luis Obispo(depending on type of district of course) That would make sense as Santa Maria is more like San Luis Obispo than Santa Barbara, but that leaves the city of Santa Barbara being “tacked” on to northern Ventura county(and southern Vta county together with SFV). I don’t see SB being happy with that! Any more than Camarillo wants to be with Van Nuys!!

            It’s beginning to look to me to be more of a problem with the number of people in a district being the setting point. Maybe, despite the fact none of us for various reasons want more lawmakers, all the district population numbers are too big…that however is not a problem the redistricting committee can fix.

          • Gregory Flap Cole

            Today, the California Citizens Redistricting Committee is taking the day off. Tomorrow there will be more discussion and maybe changes.

            Then, they vote and hopefully some maps will pass.

            There will be discussion from the public for a number of months and then the final decisions in August.

            There will be winners and losers and the GOP WILL lose 2 or 3 Congressional Seats because of the demographic changes in California.

            Some old time Dems will lose too and I suspect there will be a number of retirements both Dem and GOP.

  • Mcmcfarland99

    Voting Democratic and getting a large D majority, they can draw lines where ever they want.

    • Gregory Flap Cole

      Here are the criteria for the California Citizen’s Redistricting Commission http://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/ :

      Districts must be of equal population to comply with the US Constitution.

      Districts must comply with the Voting Rights Act to ensure that minorities have an equal opportunity to elect representatives of their choice.

      Districts must be contiguous so that all parts of the district are connected to each other.

      Districts must respect the boundaries of cities, counties, neighborhoods and communities of Interest, and minimize their division, to the extent possible.

      Districts should be geographically compact, that is, have a fairly regular shape.

      Where practicable each Senate District should be comprised of two complete and adjacent Assembly Districts and Board of Equalization districts shall be composed of 10 complete and adjacent State Senate Districts.

      Districts shall not be drawn to favor or discriminate against an incumbent, candidate, or political party.

      Simi Valley, Camarillo and Thousand Oaks are contiguous and in the same county, Ventura. Whereas, Woodland Hills and the rest of the San Fernando Valley are in Los Angeles County and farther away.

      But, I will reserve final judgment until the initial maps are released on Friday. If this configuration holds up though, I will then bitch and moan.

      Here is the definition of community of interest:

      A community of interest is a contiguous population which shares common social and economic interests that should be included within a single district for purposes of its effective and fair representation. Examples of such shared interests are those common to an urban area, a rural area, an industrial area, or an agricultural area, and those common to areas in which the people share similar living standards, use the same transportation facilities, have similar work opportunities, or have access to the same media of communication relevant to the election process. Communities of interest shall not include relationships with political parties, Incumbents, or political candidates.