The City of Santa Clarita proposes a gerrymandered district wholly based on race.
Examining the controversy surrounding Santa Clarita's proposed racially-based district.
The recent City of Santa Clarita meetings discussing the city council district map have garnered attention for the proposed gerrymandering of district 1 to create a primarily Latino district. This move has raised questions about the City's intentions towards Latino residents, with some residents expressing concern that various communities' political interests and needs will be divided into separate districts. "The CVRA is unconstitutional. Hispanics and other Santa Clarita residents with common political, economic, and other interests who reside in different parts of the City will be divided into separate districts," said Tony Maldonado, a proud Hispanic Republican in Canyon Country. It's worth noting that people in Newhall have different issues than people in Canyon Country. This move is just the latest in woke appeasement that does nothing to make Santa Clarita a better place to live for all.
However, there have been positive developments in improving county governance. After years of legal battles, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion put forward by Supervisor Sheila Kuehl to create a commission of community leaders and governance experts. The commission will explore ways to improve county governance, including examining issues such as the county's structure, the role of elected officials, and the relationship between county and city governments to make the county more effective, efficient, and responsive to its residents.
Despite controversies surrounding Kuehl's actions, including voting to shut down indoor dining and then eating at an in-person restaurant right after that vote, and being under investigation for corruption over contracts awarded to a nonprofit organization run by one of her friends (with the investigation later shelved after Kuehl's friends in Sacramento intervened), the commission's work has the potential to benefit the county and its residents greatly.
The commission may explore the current lack of coordination between the county and its cities. The county and its cities can work together more effectively to address their residents' needs by improving this relationship. Because we should be closer with the people that put our community on house arrest during the Covid-19 era, citing wrong interpretations of data to scare the pants off people. The commission may explore alternative models, such as district-based or proportional representation, to better reflect the interests and needs of all residents.
At the City of Santa Clarita's first public hearing for the proposed council district map, the proposed map divides the City into four districts, each with its own representative on the city council. The goal was to create compact districts that reflect each community's unique characteristics, with residents providing feedback at the hearing. This development is a positive step towards effective governance at the city level.
The most disturbing part is that the City is not even attempting to hide that the proposed District 1 is wholly gerrymandered to snake through the City to ensure this district is 60% Latino. They might have a point if the city council didn't have a Latino on the board, but the board has had Latino representation since 2014 when Dante Acosta won his seat; ironically, right after one of the first CRVA lawsuits was brought. Are Acosta and Miranda not the right kind of Latinos, so they don't count?
One wonders if this was discussed at the Human Relations Roundtable. We will never know since we know nothing about when they meet or what is discussed, and there are no minutes to review. It is just some super secret club none of us get to be a part of.