SEAL BEACH : Council District Boundaries OKd
The City Council on Monday gave final approval to new boundaries for the city’s five council districts.
The changes are aimed at balancing representation among the districts based on 1990 census data, as required by law.
Although the council did not discuss the issue at its meeting Monday, it has been controversial in the past. The council voted 3 to 1 to approve the new districts, with Mayor Frank Laszlo abstaining and Councilwoman Marilyn Bruce Hastings voting against the boundary plan.
Laszlo and Hastings objected to a change that will move a two-block chunk in Old Town between 4th and 6th streets from Hastings’ district into Councilwoman Gwen Forsythe’s district.
Forsythe and other council members said that change was necessary to even out the number of residents and avoid a challenge in court.
Changes to Districts 2, 4 and 5 were based on the unanimous recommendations of a council-appointed committee. But those changes left a population difference of several hundred people between Hastings’ District 1 and Forsythe’s District 3, prompting the shift of Old Town property.
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