New 7th District Draws Attention : Latinos See Their Chance to Gain Another Council Seat

One is the chief of staff of Eastside Councilman Richard Alatorre. Another is a Mexican immigrant who has become an attorney. And still another is a former chairwoman of the Hispanic Caucus of the state Democratic Party.

They are among a diverse group of Latinos considering whether to run next year in a new City Council district that was created to give Los Angeles’ emerging Latino majority more political clout at City Hall.

The San Fernando Valley’s redrawn 7th District--with a 70% Latino population--was born out of a marriage of the city’s changing demographics, City Council redistricting and court rulings that prohibited the division of large blocs of minority voters.

Although the Valley’s new Latino majority district has been applauded, the district boundary lines drawn near downtown were attacked as a violation of Latino voting rights by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

MALDEF called the new reapportionment map a plan to protect council incumbents. “It’s business as usual,” said MALDEF President Antonia Hernandez. “It’s beyond comprehension how 40% of the city’s population can just be shoved aside without regard to their interests.”

Despite their numbers in the population, Latinos hold only two seats on the 15-member council. Those Latino council members, Alatorre and Mike Hernandez, voted against the new map, which was approved by a council majority and Mayor Tom Bradley.

MALDEF has vowed to challenge the redistricting in a lawsuit similar to one it brought against Los Angeles County. That suit led to the election last year of Gloria Molina as the first Latino this century to the Board of Supervisors but only after a court fight that cost taxpayers $12 million.

Supporters of the council plan said that in addition to the new Latino majority district in the Valley, it carves out a new Latino majority district stretching from Mt. Washington to Hollywood that is represented by Michael Woo. Woo is considering running for mayor next year.

But MALDEF officials contend that Latinos make up only 24% of the registered voters in Woo’s new 13th District, making it unlikely that a Latino could be elected there for years.

Defending the new district boundaries, council President John Ferraro said Latinos should put their efforts into citizenship and registration, noting that Latinos make up only 11% of the city’s registered voters.

MALDEF drew its own map, which would have strengthened the chances for another Latino to join Alatorre and Hernandez as council members from the city’s central area. Under MALDEF’s proposal, a new 13th District would extend from East Hollywood through Echo Park to Pico-Union. Hernandez’s 1st District would be extended south to neighborhoods in the vicinity of the Convention Center.

But the MALDEF plan drew objections from African-American groups, including the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, because it would have stripped black Councilwoman Rita Walters of coveted areas of downtown and given them to Alatorre and Hernandez. Walters said she wanted to continue to represent the rich downtown area because it provides tax revenues for impoverished neighborhoods of her district.

The approved map, however, placed the downtown Broadway shopping corridor in Alatorre’s 14th District.

As attorneys at MALDEF draft their legal briefs, potential Latino candidates for the 7th District seat are assessing their chances.

Incumbent Councilman Ernani Bernardi has said he plans to retire, and the council made it difficult for him to change his mind by cutting his home out of the new 7th District. A number of Latinos are considering running for the seat in April’s municipal elections. They include:

* Al Avila, 36, Alatorre’s chief of staff and a Sylmar resident. Avila previously worked for two councilmen who represented much of the territory making up the new Valley district.

* Richard Alarcon, 38, Bradley’s deputy in the Valley and a former chairman of the Valley chapter of the Mexican American Political Assn.

* Ray Magana, 36, a lawyer who is field deputy for Bernardi and a former state vice chairman of the Mexican American Political Assn. Magana came from Mexico with his family when he was 10.

* Irene Tovar, 52, a former chairwoman of the Hispanic Caucus of the state Democratic Party who recently worked as a liaison to the Valley Latino community for state Senate leader David A. Roberti’s reelection campaign.

By no means is a Latino is assured of winning election. The district, reaching from the heavily immigrant, working-class neighborhoods in Pacoima and Van Nuys to the middle-class homes of second- and third-generation Latinos in Sylmar, is 70% Latino.

But Latinos account for only 31% of the district’s registered voters. Anglos represent 48% of the registered voters, blacks make up 19% and Asians constitute 2%.

Some non-Latinos also have expressed interest in running, including Lyle Hall, 52, a fire captain who finished second to Bernardi among eight candidates in the 1989 election, and Al Dib, 58, another former candidate, who runs a produce business. The filing period for political candidates does not open until January.

Political analysts say that to claim victory, a Latino candidate will need to appeal to a broad cross-section of the district’s voters, as Molina did when she first won election to the City Council in 1987 in a district west of downtown where Latinos accounted for 40% of the registered voters.

Alatorre said: “I think the opportunity for a Latino is good. But it’s only going to be good if that Latino is able to form coalitions with other (ethnic communities) of that district. . . . It’s there to be had. But I’m not saying that it’s a cinch. Because it isn’t.”

City officials, meanwhile, left open the possibility that they will reopen the contentious redistricting if new census figures, to be released this summer, show that it is possible to carve out a downtown district in which Latinos make up a majority of the eligible voters. MALDEF’s demographer, Prof. Leo Estrada of UCLA, said that such a district can be drawn.

The New Districts

The Los Angeles City Council has approved these boundaries for the 15 council districts.

District Anglo Black Asian Latino Dist 1. Population 7.2% 2.6% 16.4% 74.9% Reg. voters 39.2% 7.9% 7.7% 45.4% Dist 2. Population 52.9% 4.1% 9.6% 33.5% Reg. Voters 83.8% 4.4% 2.2% 9.6% Dist 3. Population 68.0% 2.6% 8.5% 20.8% Reg. Voters 89.7% 2.4% 2.3% 5.6% Dist 4. Population 52.8% 6.5% 16.1% 25.2% Reg. Voters 81.7% 7.9% 4.0% 6.4% Dist 5. Population 80.9% 3.3% 5.9% 9.9% Reg. Voters 92.0% 2.9% 2.0% 3.1% Dist 6. Population 56.1% 15.7% 8.5% 20.1% Reg. Voters 73.1% 16.9% 3.4% 6.6% Dist 7. Population 16.9% 8.0% 5.7% 70.0% Reg. Voters 48.4% 18.8% 2.0% 31.0% Dist 8. Population 4.6% 63.8% 2.8% 31.8% Reg. Voters 6.6% 89.3% 1.4% 3.0% Dist 9. Population 2.7% 35.7% 2.1% 62.7% Reg. Voters 7.8% 83.1% 1.7% 7.8% Dist 10. Population 9.0% 37.2% 15.2% 41.9% Reg. Voters 20.6% 67.7% 6.3% 5.8% Dist 11. Population 72.1% 2.7% 7.6% 17.7% Reg. Voters 90.9% 2.3% 3.0% 3.8% Dist 12. Population 68.5% 3.2% 11.2% 17.1% Reg. Voters 87.5% 2.8% 3.4% 6.3% Dist 13. Population 21.0% 3.5% 19.8% 57.0% Reg. Voters 61.2% 8.5% 6.5% 24.0% Dist 14. Population 13.1% 3.8% 10.4% 73.4% Reg. Voters 39.4% 4.4% 4.5% 51.8% Dist 15. Population 28.2% 18.9% 7.3% 46.3% Reg. Voters 49.8% 29.6% 3.1% 17.7%

* Figures may not equal 100.0% because of rounding off.