The Los Angeles County Redistricting Commission is scheduled to host a virtual public hearing for the Santa Clarita Valley on Monday at 7 p.m.
This hearing is the first of 10 to gather feedback from the public about drawing political boundaries for the five-member Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
The hearings also provide an opportunity to learn about the redistricting process, which happens once every 10 years following the U.S. Census. The U.S. Census Bureau is expected to share 2020 Census data with states in August.
Los Angeles County Redistricting 2021 marks the first time that supervisorial districts will be drawn by a group of county residents acting independent of the Board of Supervisors.
“The redistricting process is important to establish districts that are geographically contiguous, while considering topography, geography, cohesiveness, contiguity, integrity, compactness of territory, and community of interest of the supervisorial districts,” according to a statement released by the commission.
Residents from across the county are welcome to attend any of the scheduled public hearings, even if the hearing isn’t focused on their area of residence.
The Los Angeles County Redistricting 2021 Commission is comprised of 14 members. Based on a review of the commissioners’ applications by The Signal, none of the 14 live in the Santa Clarita Valley.
Three commissioners reside in the 5th District, which includes the SCV. Commissioner John Vento lives in Palmdale, Commissioner David Holtzman lives in Burbank and Commissioner Mark Mendoza lives in La Verne.
The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office identified 533 qualified applicants out of a total 741 applications received. From there, the clerk’s staff narrowed the pool to 60 of the most qualified applicants without regard to demographic information, according to the commission’s website.
The County Assessor’s Office randomly selected eight of the 60, including at least one from each supervisorial district. The eight selected commissioners then selected six from the remaining 52 applicants. The county certified the final commissioner list in December.
To learn how to participate in these public hearings or submit a written comment, visit redistricting.lacounty.gov.
This story was updated Thursday, June 10 at 6:55 p.m.
