Los Angeles Redistricting

So they got away with it. Like robber barons stealing from the grave of their peers, they did it and got away with it.

The Los Angeles City Council voted to split the First Council District between Councilman Joel Wachs and Councilman Ernani Bernardi. It is not even that disturbing that they did it--it’s the way they did it.

The grass over Howard Finn’s grave had not even taken seed when they got together in a dark room somewhere and plotted how to reward their friends and punish their enemies. Council Members Michael Woo and John Ferraro, no doubt grinning and patting each other on the back in the knowledge that they would no longer have to face each other in an election, drew up a new plan that would punish Wachs and Bernardi and reward themselves along with Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, a longtime power seat on the council.

I’m not even so surprised at Woo and Ferraro as I am at Councilman Richard Alatorre, chairman of the council’s powerful Charter and Elections Committee responsible for recommending the redistricting plan to the full council. Alatorre has shown no hesitation in wielding power he obtained while making friends as an assemblyman. He decided it was time to show Joel Wachs who was in charge.

Alatorre obviously has his sights set on the mayorship--why else would he run for a City Council seat? Wachs has expressed the same intentions in the past. Now the Alatorre sledgehammer has dealt a mortal blow to that aspiration. At the same time he sent a strong message to Bernardi who has often been a gadfly to Alatorre. Alatorre told him by his actions that it is time to be humble or to retire. Bernardi may do the latter.

And what about the unrepresented residents of the previous First District? They get the shaft, just as Joel Wachs has said. Oh, they’ll be represented. I know Joel isn’t the kind of person to give up a challenge. The point is, the best interest of the San Fernando Valley has been obscured by all the back-room dealings in City Hall.

The First District should have received the right to a fair election to replace their council member who passed away on Aug. 12. What they got was a sham. Their recourse: yell and scream with the knowledge that when all is said and done, the council members had mostly made up their minds even before the community meeting in Pacoima.

As far as the tainted trio--Woo, Ferraro and Alatorre--I hope they can sleep soundly in the knowledge of what they have done to the memory of Howard Finn and the people of the First District.

RICHARD F. KUNZ

Granada Hills

Kunz was legislative aide for Councilman Finn from December, 1985, until Finn’s death on Aug. 12.