School Remap Vote Could Be a Cliffhanger : Board of Education: The City Council is to decide today on a plan to create a potential second Latino seat. But a key backer will be absent.

The final vote on a controversial school redistricting plan--set for today amid an 11th-hour lobbying flurry by San Fernando Valley groups--is likely to be a cliffhanger because of the absence of a key player, Los Angeles City Council President John Ferraro.

Ferraro had open heart surgery Monday and is expected to be hospitalized for two weeks. He had backed a plan, narrowly approved last week by the City Council, that would create a potential second Latino seat on the Los Angeles Board of Education. Valley-based critics say the plan, drawn by Councilman Richard Alatorre, would seriously weaken the Valley’s voice on school issues.

Ferraro’s absence will mean that only eight of those who voted for the Alatorre plan will be present, the minimum needed for final approval. Last week’s vote was 9 to 6.

Adding to the uncertainty were Councilmen Zev Yaroslavsky and Michael Woo, who voted for the Alatorre plan last week but were tight-lipped Monday about how they would vote today.

“No one should assume anything about my vote,” Woo said.

“This is going to be real, real close,” predicted school board member Julie Korenstein, a foe of the Alatorre plan.

“A cliffhanger,” said Councilwoman Joy Picus, leader of the council members who oppose the Alatorre plan.

Meanwhile, the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn., led by City Hall attorney-lobbyist Ben Reznik, urged lawmakers Monday to reject the Alatorre plan and back an alternative proposed by Picus. State Assemblyman Richard Katz urged the council to reconsider its earlier vote, and Korenstein made a last-minute pitch to persuade Woo to switch sides.

Nor was the other side sitting idle.

A council aide, who asked for anonymity, said the Alatorre bloc was lobbying council members as well, including Councilman Joel Wachs, who had been outspoken against the Alatorre plan last week.

The 31st District Parent-Teacher-Student Assn. and East Valley black community leaders have strongly opposed the Alatorre plan.

Two of the school board’s seven districts now are entirely in the Valley; under the Alatorre plan, only one would be. In addition, parts of the Valley would fall into three other districts with the majority of constituents outside the Valley.

Specifically, the heavily Latino and black areas of the East Valley would be represented by two districts, one of these stretching into Hollywood. The other--including Sylmar, Pacoima and San Fernando--would reach all the way to Boyle Heights.

The latter district would be dominated by the Alatorre-Eastside political organization, its critics say.

“We don’t want to be an appendage of downtown,” said Norma Durazo, a Latina school activist in the Valley. “The leadership is here in the East Valley to do the job.”

But only a smattering of Pacoima-area Latino leaders have opposed the Alatorre plan while the bulk of the traditional Latino civil rights organizations, including the Mexican-American Political Assn., the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Assn. of Mexican-American Educators, have backed it.

One Latino community activist, who asked that he not be named, said many East Valley Latinos are too intimidated to speak out against the Alatorre plan because it would seem politically incorrect and because they fear retribution.

“This is an area where one hand washes the other, and these people don’t forget,” said the activist. “There’s a lot at risk.”

But Alatorre and Latino activists who support the plan say East Valley Latinos have more in common with Boyle Heights Latinos than they do with other Valley residents and would benefit from being incorporated into a Latino-dominated district.

“This is a people issue, not a geographic issue,” said Art Barragan, Granada Hills resident and president of the Valley chapter of the Assn. of Mexican-American Educators.