Mayor Adds His Voice to New Bid on Remapping

Mayor Tom Bradley, injecting himself into the reborn dispute over the Los Angeles City Council’s district boundary lines, Friday called for public hearings to assess whether the council should again redraw its districts to take advantage of the vacancy created by the death of Councilman Howard Finn.

The hearings also should include discussions on whether to replace Finn by appointment or election, Bradley said in a written statement. Finn represented the Northeast San Fernando Valley’s 1st District until his death Aug. 12.

Bradley’s announcement came as the council’s Charter and Elections Committee prepared to consider on Tuesday a new redistricting plan drafted jointly by Councilmen John Ferraro and Michael Woo.

The new plan is the latest in a series considered by the City Council since the U.S Justice Department filed a lawsuit seeking more Latino representation on the council.

The divisive municipal dispute appeared settled on Aug. 1, when council members and Bradley approved a remapping plan that created a predominantly Latino seat near downtown and set up a race between incumbents Woo and Ferraro in one district.

Private Discussions

Since then, no new plan has been publicly discussed. But Finn’s death from a ruptured aorta reopened private discussions aimed at coming up with a plan that would preserve both Ferraro’s and Woo’s incumbencies. That is the plan to be formally considered for the first time Tuesday.

Woo, a member of the Charter and Elections Committee, said he was not aware of the mayor’s proposal but believed that public hearings would be likely if the reapportionment issue is reopened.

“I think basically there was a general consensus on the council to hold public hearings,” he said. “It would be politically disastrous to move this kind of thing through the council without a hearing.”

Council President Pat Russell and Charter and Elections Committee Chairman Richard Alatorre, major participants in the city’s redistricting effort, had left their offices for the Labor Day weekend when the mayor made his announcement. They could not be reached for comment.

In general, the Woo-Ferraro plan would leave the new Latino district near downtown intact. But it would eliminate Finn’s district and parcel out the territory between Councilmen Ernani Bernardi and Joel Wachs.

Bernardi’s mid-Valley district would be pushed north, still including his Van Nuys base of support but also taking in new, heavily black and Latino Pacoima. The liberal Wachs would lose his affluent Sherman Oaks and Studio City base and instead would represent the conservative Sunland-Tujunga area once represented by Finn.

The new district that encompasses both Woo’s Hollywood base and Ferraro’s mid-Wilshire home would be dissolved. Woo would get one district, representing Hollywood and parts of Wachs’ Sherman Oaks and Studio City.

Ferraro would keep his Wilshire area district and would not have to beat Woo to hold onto his seat.

Wachs, the clear loser under the privately discussed plan, loudly criticized it this week as a “back room political deal.” When council members sought to put redistricting expert Bruce E. Cain back on the city payroll--a sign of the seriousness of the new proposal--Wachs fought and lost.

Sign Plan

Before the Woo-Ferraro plan could be adopted, it would face discussion before both the Charter and Elections Committee and the full council. Bradley would also have to sign the plan before it could take effect.

As rumors of the Woo-Ferraro plan surfaced, the council held parallel discussions about whether to appoint a replacement for Finn--his widow Anne has lobbied for the job--or declare a special election. The decision has been put off while council members consider carving up the district.

Bradley spokesman John Stodder said the mayor’s call for hearings came after he received unhappy telephone calls from residents, particularly those in the 1st District, complaining about the rumors.

“The feeling the community expressed was that the council was doing something we can’t see and we can’t effect,” Stodder said.

In a related matter Friday, the citizens group Common Cause asked the council to appoint a Finn replacement who would agree not to run in the April election, thereby equalizing the chances of the challengers.

Woo said he was skeptical about that suggestion.

“That could work in theory, but the problem is how do you enforce that?” he asked. “Somebody might say he is not a candidate in August and then decide he likes the job in April.”