Draft Plan for Redistricting Finally makes sense for Palos Verdes Peninsula

Proposed redistricting maps released Friday would dramatically alter the face of the South Bay’s political landscape, eliminating two of the region’s congressional districts and once again linking the Palos Verdes Peninsula to its coastal neighbors.The California Citizens Redistricting Commission’s first draft maps released Friday carve out completely new congressional and legislative boundaries across the state. The panel is required to approve final maps by Aug. 15.

The 14-member commission, created in 2008 when voters approved Proposition 11, used public testimony and the new U.S. census data to develop new congressional and state Senate, Assembly and Board of Equalization districts.

The congressional district held by Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher would be completely contained in Orange County, forfeiting the Palos Verdes Peninsula to the neighboring district once represented by Rep. Jane Harman.

The Assembly seat held by Democrat Bonnie Lowenthal would remain in Long Beach and no longer jut into the Harbor Area and the Palos Verdes Peninsula, according to the revised maps.Instead, the Palos Verdes Peninsula would be included in a district that runs north to Westchester and Playa del Rey, currently represented by Assemblywoman Betsy Butler.

The state Senate district would reach as far north as Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, move through Santa Monica and hug the coast down to the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

These proposed changes would finally put the Palos Verdes Peninsula back into a district which includes the other South Bay beach cities,instead of gerrymandered districts where the Palos Verdes Peninsula was lumped into districts that made no sense at all.