Orange County Board of Supervisors approves new redistricting plan
Benefits for First District Supervisor Janet Nguyen
SANTA ANA, Calif.—The Orange County Board of Supervisors approved a redistricting plan that went against a proposal by a redistricting committee.
Among the ways the plan proposed put forward by Board Chairman Bill Campbell and passed by a 4-1 vote differs from the committee’s plan is that it moves a portion of Fountain Valley north of Warner Avenue from the Second District to the First District.
That move is seen as a benefit for First District Supervisor Janet Nguyen because the area of Fountain Valley going to her district is heavily Vietnamese. Nguyen—who helped create the successful plan that dictates next year’s voting districts—will face re-election in 2012.
Second District Supervisor John Moorlach was the only board member to vote against the plan.
Other aspects of the approved plan that runs counter to the committee’s recommendations are moving Brea to the Fourth District from the Third District and moving a part of Buena Park’s west side to the Second District from the Fourth District.
The move that promises to draw the most criticism is the one giving Nguyen’s district part of Fountain Valley.
That proposal has been a subject of debate for Latino political advocates who say their numbers have grown faster than any ethnicity and they deserve a district where a Latino has the best chance to win. Making the First District more Asian works against that goal.
However, it is a boon to activists of Asian descent, who have held concerns about a district that would make it difficult for an Asian, such as Nguyen, to win.
Art Montez and Zeke Hernandez of the Santa Ana chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens pushed for a map that put more of Stanton into the First District and were against putting Fountain Valley there because they believe it “waters down” Latino representation in the district.
After hearing from many Asian and Latino leaders, the board directed the redistricting committee to reconvene, but ended up not following its recommended borders.
In redistricting, county officials must consider a number of factors, including federal laws regarding voting rights.
When drawing a district for a minority group, officials must make sure the population is big enough, that the minority district is politically similar and that ethnic majority in the district votes as a bloc to defeat minority candidates.
It is difficult to draw up maps in Orange County favoring Asian candidates, because voters of Vietnamese descent are not necessarily politically aligned with those of Cambodian descent.
Voters of Asian descent also are not as concentrated as Latinos in terms of population.
Local activists in the League of United Latin American Citizens unsuccessfully proposed districts with Latino populations of more than 60 percent.
SANTA ANA, Calif.—Orange County supervisors today adopted new political district boundaries, but not without some dissension, with Buena Park leaders criticizing the splitting of their city’s representation and Latino activists saying they may challenge the vote in court.
Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach, who cast the lone dissenting vote on the five-member board, accused his fellow supervisors of “gerrymandering.”
LOS ANGELES, Caif.—People without a home computer can purchase concert and sporting-event tickets at various Southern California Wal-Mart stores outfitted with touch-screen Ticketmaster terminals, the ticketing outlet announced today.
The terminals are available at 69 Southern California Wal-Mart stores.
Customers can use the terminals to browse available concerts, shows and sporting events. Once a customer picks an event, a Wal-Mart employee will help complete the transaction and immediately print the tickets.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Eight schools in Los Angeles County and four in Orange County were nominated by the California Department of Education to be national blue ribbon schools.
The Los Angeles County nominees are:
• California Academy of Mathematics and Science, Long Beach Unified School District;
• Gertz-Ressler Academy High School, Los Angeles Unified School District;
• Renaissance Arts Academy, Los Angeles Unified School District;
• McGrath Elementary, Newhall School District;
EAST BAKERSFIELD, CALIF. — The 911 call is accusatory. The woman flatly tells the dispatcher she just witnessed several police officers in East Bakersfield, California, beat a man to death.
The woman — identified by the local newspaper as Salina Quair, 34 — happened upon the scene as she left Kern Medical Center, where the father of four would later die.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A 19-year-old Latino man was sentenced today to 25 years and four months in state prison for threatening a Black family in Glassell Park with a shotgun while shouting racial epithets.
Ivan Alquicira was convicted of three counts of assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of making terrorist threats, with enhancements for hate crimes, gang involvement and firearms possession.
