Long Beach : Redistricting on Horizon

The City Council Tuesday will consider new population figures that will require a redrafting of Long Beach’s nine council districts.

The City Charter mandates redistricting every five years if the Planning Commission finds, as it did recently, that the populations of the districts are not “approximately equal.”

City analysts said that populations of the districts now vary by as much as 8,154--the 5th District’s 38,875 contrasted with the 1st District’s 47,029.

“The three districts on the East Side are all below the city average and the three downtown and around the downtown have all gained a lot of population,” said Ellis Crow, long-range planning officer.

The districts have become unequal in size because of a citywide population increase of 29,162--from 361,334 to an estimated 387,496--since the 1980 Census, Crow said. District estimates were provided by the Planning Department after it looked at a number of demographic factors and construction data.

The population in all council districts increased from 1980, with the 5th District’s edging up just 416 people and the 1st District’s expanding by 6,422, planners found. Estimated new populations are: 1st District, 47,029, 9.2% above the city average of 43,055; 2nd District, 45,646, 6% above; 3rd District, 41,518, 3.6% below; 4th District, 40,434, 6.1% below; 5th District, 38,875, 9.7% below; 6th District, 46,069, 7% above; 7th District, 44,362, 3% above; 8th District, 42,496, 1.3% below; 9th District, 41,067, 4.6% below.